1 Racialized Discourses, Commodified Patriotism and ...

Racialized Discourses, Commodified Patriotism and Absent Presences: Choral Music Publishing After September 11, 2001 Deborah Bradley University of Toronto Paper presented to the Consortium for Research on Equity in Music Education (CRÈME) October 2010 Madison, Wisconsin Purpose In the summer of 2002, less than a year after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, I performed my annual task of sifting through various choral music publishers’ catalogs to choose repertoire for my Canadian youth choir. The unabashed American flag-‐ waving of some of the catalog descriptions disturbed me, as did what seemed to be a greater than usual number of American patriotic music offerings. Questions nagged as I read: Who is the “we” inferred in the descriptions? What vision of America and Americans do these catalogs portray, and why was there such disregard for international customers who also relied on American publishers for repertoire? Over time, the questions led me to research the output of various choral music publishers’ catalogs to discern what happened following the tragic events of September 11, 2001. This paper, then, reports on my analysis of the discourse(s) at work within choral music publishers’ catalogs from the years 2000-‐2009. Since these catalogs have direct influence on curriculum in performance-‐based choral music education, my analysis interrogates both the embedded assumptions and the representations of “American-‐ness” evident in the catalogs as signifiers of popular opinion and beliefs in the post 9/11 years. In assessing the publishers’ catalogs as texts that not only reflect but serve to produce © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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cultural attitudes in the U.S., my goal is to bring into relief the ways that discourses promoting commodified American patriotism contribute subtly to racism, including but not limited to, anti-‐Arab racism, sometimes referred to as Islamophobia (Salaita, 2006, p. 340). For purposes of this paper, Islamophobia is “a descriptor for bigotry against Arabs and Muslims” (Salaita, 2006, p. 248) Theoretical perspectives

The study utilizes the analytical lens of antiracism. Antiracism, a form of critical

theory and pedagogy, is a discursive framework that questions the roles societal institutions play in reproducing inequalities of race, gender, sex and class (Dei, 2000, p. 34). More recently, antiracism definitions have expanded to include inequalities reproduced on the basis of dis/ability, language, religion, and nationality (Amin & Dei, 2006). For the purposes of this study, the latter two, along with race, are highly salient. However, a key tenet of antiracism is the understanding that “all systems of oppression intersect and interlock” (Dei, 2000, p. 35), and thus any one form of oppression must be studied in conjunction with the others to better understand how racism operates in societies.

Racism is herein understood as a system of oppression whose outcomes are the

effects of racist practices, whether or not these outcomes are intentional. “Racist practices do not require the racist intentionality of structures which underpins so much of the work on institutional racism” (Anthias, Yuval-‐Davis, & Cain, 1992, p. 13). It is understood that choral music publishers do not deliberately reproduce racism or racist attitudes; indeed, one could argue that the descriptions found in the choral music catalogs display an almost self-‐conscious political correctness. Yet, as Salaita (2006) asserts, cultural criticism throughout the twentieth century has illustrated that racism and its modes of exploitation © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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are interconnected with wide-‐ranging ancillary concerns—capitalist voracity, religious discourse, sexual anxiety, historical competition, all of which not only consume but substantiate the racism. Furthermore, these ancillary concerns have created in the United States a national pride predicated on the convergence of patriotism and a Messianic foreign policy akin to the nineteenth-‐century European quest for Empire . . . a national pride, then, that invariably is committed to the proliferation of anti-‐Arab racism because without that racism, its existence has no justification (and its practitioners no ideological certainty) (p. 258). With this in mind, my study seeks to unveil the “mythos of national pride generated by American politicians and marketed as . . . patriotism” (Salaita, 2006, p. 253) within choral music publishers’ catalogs after 9/11, to bring into relief how this mythos symbiotically supports racism in the U.S. This commodified patriotism serves a national pride that is not unquestionably benign or beneficial. The research questions guiding this study query the representations of American identity within the catalogs from 2000 – 2009: Who is included, who is excluded, how are they represented, and how might these choices feed racism, including anti-‐Arab racism, in U.S. society? Since these catalogs are also used to market product outside of the United States, this last question may have affect beyond U.S. geographic borders.

A few points of clarification are needed here. I do not wish to imply that either anti-‐

Arab racism or Islamophobia resulted from the events of September 11, 2001. Fear of Muslims and Islam has been around since the inception of the religion itself (Lee, Gibbons, Thompson, & Timani, 2009, p. 100), but gained substance through the academic discipline © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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known as Orientalism (Said, 1994; 1978), which emerged during the era of colonial expansion. Some scholars argue that Americans and citizens of other Western nations have demonstrated long histories of negative perceptions toward Islam and its followers (Chahuan, 2005; Said, 1994; 1978). However, the events of September 11, 2001, and “subsequent media portrayals of the event have played a major role in heightening negative and, more particularly, fearful perceptions of Muslims” (Lee, et al., 2009, p. 92).

Although the term Islamophobia has become widely used in the media, it is sometimes utilized inaccurately. Islamophobia refers specifically to a fear of the religion of Islam. Recent opinion poll research supports the existence and apparent rise of Islamophobia (interpreted as a fear of Muslims or people who may appear to be Muslim) (Ramarajan & Runell, 2007, p. 87), yet Said (1994; 1978) reminds us that the academic discourse of Orientalism initially contributed to a distrust of the Arab world generally. Lee et al state that many opinion polls and researcher’s psychometric measures including the Anti-‐Arab Racism Scale (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle,1994), and the New Measure of Anti-‐Arab Prejudice (Echebarria-‐Echabe & Guede, 2007), appear to “confound anti-‐Arab prejudice with fear of Muslims” (Lee, et al., 2009, p. 93). For purposes of this paper, therefore, I will use the terms anti-‐Arab racism and Islamophobia separately, to avoid conflating the concepts of religion and race (Abdurraqib, 2009). In doing so, however, I acknowledge an inherent paradox: the discourse of anti-‐Arab racism often implicates Islam as the cause for fear, and hence the justification for prejudice against those who appear to be Arab, whether or not they are Muslim. © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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Method and Data Sources

The study employs what Hodder (2000) describes as the interpretation of material

culture, represented by publishers’ catalogs of new choral music releases and promotions from catalog year 1999-‐2000 through the 2008-‐9 marketing year. Catalogs of promotions and new releases were collected from four publishers who are prominent in the “education sector”: Alfred Publishing, Lorenz Publishing (the labels Roger Dean and Heritage Music Press), Shawnee Press, and Hal Leonard (all labels marked for the education market).1 Only the catalogs or sections of catalogs described as “educational” were analyzed.

The research involved content analysis of individual titles and their catalog

descriptions. My goal was “to unpack the density of relations and of intersecting social domains” (Frow & Morris, 2000, p. 327) evident in the catalogs’ discourses. I analyzed and coded individual octavo titles and descriptions according to the following initial codes: Patriotic-‐American Identity, Peace or Unity, American Folk Songs (not including spirituals), and Crossover (songs promoting both an American patriotic identity and sentiments of peace or unity among humankind). I avoided the publishers’ established categories because of inconsistency between publishers and from year to year for the same publisher. The codes I established allowed for consistent coding across the range of catalogs and years. An independent rater confirmed the reliability of the coding at a .92 consistency. The total number of titles within each category was calculated as a percentage to total new releases by year to determine trends in styles of music over time. After the first round of coding, I went back to collect additional data by adding codes for Spirituals and for 1 In 2009, Hal Leonard bought 2009 Shawnee Press but for the years covered in this study, Shawnee produced its own catalogs. © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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Christocentricity. I continue to analyze these last two codes, along with a third new category for music designated as Latino/a, all of which suggest possibilities for interpreting racialized discourses evident in music publications; however, I present here only my initial interpretations regarding the language describing Spirituals, as well as the catalogs’ overall Christocentricity (which may influence Islamophobia).

Utilizing an antiracism theoretical lens, a second level of analysis focused on catalog

descriptions for each title, providing the discursive material to be interpreted with regard to the catalogs’ constructions of American identity. This interpretive research focused on the research questions outlined previously, and takes into account sentiments related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as they influenced descriptions about particular compositions. What the Catalogs Suggest The ten years of catalogs from the four largest publishers serving the educational market provide evidence of public discourse related to a market-‐defined, commodified patriotism in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, and in the years of the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. There was a marked increase from previous years in both the number and percentage to total of patriotic arrangements and compositions beginning in catalog year 2002-‐3. Over the remaining 7 years of catalogs, the numbers and percentages of overtly patriotic or militaristic American identity octavos declined, experienced a resurgence prior to the 2008 presidential election, and then declined again, while there was a simultaneous increase in the percentage of songs that speak directly to an American cultural identity, for example, increases in the number of arrangements of music identified as “American folk songs.” Concurrently, percentages of patriotic-‐ © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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militaristic songs decreased as songs with messages of peace, brotherhood, or human unity increased. While the numbers may appear to suggest straightforward trends, the catalog descriptions offer a more nuanced picture related to racism. Of the 4,916 new titles and descriptions assessed in this study, only 4 addressed “Middle Eastern”—a euphemism for Arab—music and culture. One of these did so with language typical of Orientalist images of the region: Set to a love poem by the Persian poet Rurni, this exotic work evokes the sounds of the Middle East: “Your fragrance fills the meadow -‐ I heard you.” Hal Leonard catalog, year 2007-‐8, p. 37. “Your Fragrance, ” by Edward Henderson. The description exotic work conjures up the sounds of an Orientalist’s imaginary of Persia, the ancient name for Iran, perhaps suggesting nostalgia for the culture “as it was” rather than as it is imagined today given the uneasy relationship between the U.S. and Iran. More importantly, the quotation from Rurni’s poem implies an Orientalist image of the exotic princess as temptress. Based on the dearth of publications utilizing music of the Arabic world, one can infer little interest on the part of composers or publishers to explore Arabic music as a way to build cross-‐cultural understanding or to counteract the rising tide of anti-‐ Arab racism (Panagopoulos, 2006). Another complexity emerges from the shifting descriptions of African-‐American spirituals, revealing a residual linguistic anxiety (Pollock, 2004) about verbalizing the U.S. history of slavery and racial oppression. In some catalogs, the description “African-‐ American” is utilized, paradoxically locating the songs both within and outside of the nation © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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(Walcott, 2003). More frequently, however, the songs’ contexts are whitewashed through the color-‐blind descriptor “traditional spiritual.” An optimistic interpretation might suggest this as a move toward greater inclusion of African-‐Americans within the nation, an example of an emerging post-‐race discourse (Gilroy, 2000; Williams, 1997). Given the desire of publishers to reach an education market known for its anxiety over controversial curriculum topics, however, an antiracist interpretation suggests the language represents an attempt to discursively increase the distance from the painful history of slavery in the U.S. Such colorblindness denies both the reality that the United States was a nation founded on the principle that only some human beings counted as “persons” (Morrison, 1992), and the ongoing material consequences of that history for African-‐Americans today. Finally, and perhaps most directly related to Islamophobia and anti-‐Arab racism, is the amount of Christian content in the catalogs. Even though my analysis only included catalogs designated for the education market, the numbers and percentages of songs based on Christian liturgical texts or sentiments, often in Latin—dominated the offerings. In one year over 40 percent of all new releases coded as “Christocentric,” with an average of between 30 and 35 percent in most years. When combined with patriotic offerings and folk songs contributing to an American national imaginary, a portrait emerges of an imagined predominantly white, Christian nation. Some publications combine nationalistic expression and faith in overtly exclusionary language. For example, on page 9 of the Hal Leonard 2002-‐ 3 catalog, the title God Bless America (Affirming Our Faith and Freedom) by Tom Fettke carries the following description: “an affirmation of our faith and freedom” (italics added). Who is the “we” implied in the phrase “our faith and freedom” occurring in both the title and the description? As an absent presence (Morrison, 1992) against whom this discursive © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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“we” is set, the Islamic Arab may be imagined, lurking in the shadows of a collective national fear. The catalogs appear to pay only grudging attention to multiculturalism. Percentages of multicultural and world music offerings declined in years when patriotic offerings increased, and appear to be less important overall (on the basis of number of publications) than American “folk song” arrangements which proliferated over ten years. The category designation “multicultural” appears only in the Shawnee catalog index for the year 2000-‐1; in subsequent years catalogs were organized along different schemes. Within multicultural and world music offerings, the music of the Middle East forms an absent presence, although Jewish folk songs are more frequently included than other musics from the region. Even here, though, offerings sometimes become “de-‐culturized;” for example, Stephen Hatfield’s arrangement of Mayn Rue Platz, is described in the Hal Leonard 2008-‐9 catalog as, “a Yiddish lament set to an unstoppable dance groove. The rhythms and melodic contour evoke the Middle East without being culturally specific” (p. 40). The racialization within this description is somewhat confusing, given that Yiddish usually functions as a code for Eastern European Jewish people, not those from Israel (the “Middle East.”). To further complicate this example, Hatfield himself has reported in workshops that the dance groove on which the piece is set is Palestinian. Thus the pointed reference to a lack of cultural specificity is equally puzzling—what or who does the avoidance serve? In interpreting the data, it is important to keep in mind that publishers’ catalogs are not themselves intended to be educative; however, as marketing tools they represent what the companies anticipate prevailing attitudes among their target audience, music teachers and choral conductors, to be. Yet the market both reflects and creates consumer demand, © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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and meanings are attributed to the symbols represented by commodities in creative ways that produce new orders of symbolic meaning (Willis, 2005, p. 471) (such as patriotic song publications). My analysis is framed by a basic principle of antiracism theory: racism is “so enmeshed in the fabric of the U.S. social order, it appears both normal and natural to people in this society” (Ladson-‐Billings, 2000, p. 264). When racism is part of the natural order, racialized discourses fly under the radar. In the wake of 9/11, these discourses need to be analyzed within the context of “the ‘American’ psyche” built upon “dominant American self-‐understandings of the role the United States plays in the world” (Apple, 2005, p. 340). As Apple describes, a hidden curriculum of “compulsory patriotism” (p. 344) emerged, and my research of choral catalogs supports that assertion. Choral music composers, arrangers, publishers, and teacher-‐conductors who purchased such products bought into compulsory patriotism. As time passed, overt patriotism gave way to more subtle constructions of the American imagined community (Anderson, 1983), but retained a predominantly white and Christian identity, evidenced by the ambivalent discourse describing the musics of people of color living within and beyond U.S. borders. Why Should We Care? It’s Only Marketing, After All . . . Given the dependence of choral music educators on publishers to supply new repertoire, it is important to understand how market forces operate to produce culture. This study attempts to shed light on that process. Although teachers rarely purchase more than a few items from a single catalog, these annual releases and promotions function similarly to the fashion world’s haute couture runway shows—they may influence the public’s understanding of what is considered to be “hot” for the coming year. Understood as

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representative texts, publishers’ catalogs provide clues about how the market produces and reproduces cultural attitudes, including racism. The market provides an encompassing and saturating cultural environment by supplying attractive and usable symbolic and expressive forms for consumption (Willis, 2005, p. 470). Yet as Willis states, “the commodity form’s built-‐in desperation to find use at any price incites and provokes certain kinds of appropriation,” (p. 470). The content analysis of 10 years of publishers’ catalogs supports Willis’ assertion. The proliferation of arrangements of “traditional” U.S. patriotic music may be interpreted as implying a vision of an America where faith and patriotism are practically inseparable. In one catalog alone (Hal Leonard, 2002-‐3) there were 5 arrangements of God Bless America. While there were new compositions in response to the events of September 11, 2001, for example, Rene Clausen’s Memorial (Lorenz Publishing, Roger Dean label, 2003), they were considerably outnumbered by arrangements of traditional patriotic anthems. These anthems, when considered in conjunction with the increasing number of arrangements of American folk songs, construct an imagined identity that is white and Christian, the identity of a society ambivalent, perhaps even dismayed, about its changing demographics. Disturbing questions surfacing for me relate to publishers’ intentions: given that there is an anticipation of potential market before any octavo reaches publication, do the publications following 9/11 suggest not only an anticipated rise in patriotic expression, but also pandering to the pre-‐existing, newly awakened anti-‐Arab racism in the U.S. and elsewhere (I think here particularly of Europe)? If such is the case, where does responsibility lie for quelling the rising tide of anti-‐Arab racism? Keep in mind that these particular products are being marketed predominantly to school choirs. © Deborah Bradley 2010, Mississauga, ON Canada

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The “post 9/11 surge of patriotism” (Kaplan, 2006, p. 5) evident in these choral music catalogs feeds an absent presence of anti-‐Arab racism “as mainstream sensibility, or worse, as patriotic duty” (Salaita, 2006, p. 259). In light of these concerns, Adorno’s (1997) warning in “Education After Auschwitz” seems appropriate: he admonished educators to continually work against “the resurrection of aggressive nationalism” (p. 1), no matter what form it assumes.


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Walcott, R. (2003). Black like who?: Writing Black Canada (2nd rev. ed.): Toronto. Williams, P. J. (1997). Seeing a color-‐blind future: The paradox of race. New York: The Noonday Press. Willis, P. (2005). Foot soldiers of modernity: the dialectics of cultural consumption and the 21st-‐century school. In C. McCarthy, W. Crichlow, G. Dimitriadis & N. Dolby (Eds.), Race, Identity, and Representation in Education (pp. 461-‐477). New York: Routledge.


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