White Affectivity, Distraction Tactics, And the Crisis of Thought in the Western Classical European Music Industry

Abstract

In this article I argue that white affective mechanisms within western European classical music (WECM) composition may lead to double-consciousness in the practices of minoritarian composers which ultimately constitutes an act of epistemic self-harm due to the need to assimilate for inclusion in the field. WECM has long been accepted and assumed to be a “universal” art form. This has had negative impacts on minoritarian composers and contributed to their exclusion throughout its history. I offer an investigation of these affective mechanisms in WECM composition and suggest a new compositional method based on minoritarian identification to build a liberatory creative practice free from epistemic self-harm. This method allows for minoritarian composers to think in/through/with their identifications as a form of resistance – rooted in the repair and emancipation of the minoritarian Self. Through this method, I suggest that as creative practitioners we can directly respond to the erosion of democratic values and ever-growing neoliberalism, not only within the WECM field, but more broadly in our local, national, and global communities – helping to reorient how and where we do the making of thought centred on the minoritarian perspective.