Introduction by the Guest Editor

The Promise and Pitfalls of Global Music History Pedagogy

Abstract

With an aim to providing practical assistance to educators with ready-to-use material, this special issue offers syllabi and bibliographies of global music history, demonstrating varied possibilities of designing a course—whether defined by era, geography, topic, or case studies across the entirety of global music history. This introduction addresses thorny theoretical issues, with an eye to avoiding simplistic reductions that have tended to influence the field. Unresolved questions include: What does the principle of interconnectivity in global music history include, and what does it exclude? Which term does or does not denote the countering of Euro North American cultural colonialism in the form of Western music history that is not only taught but is pedagogically hegemonic on a global scale far beyond Euro North America? What kind of oppressions are hidden within global music history? In what ways are current efforts at a critical global music history inclusive or exclusive?