Learning to speak from my place

Hi,

At the risk of sounding a bit odd, I thought I would share with you what I wrote last year for my tenure application file. Part of the application involved writing a teaching philosophy, and I wanted to speak to the tremendous influence Bev has had on my teaching methodology and energy in the classroom. Here is an excerpt:

'One formative experience during my graduate work occurred in a course taught by Beverley Diamond. In her classes, Bev had an incredible ability to engage her students, and highlight what each individual brought to the table. Most of the time this gave students a strong sense of inclusion and made them feel that they could contribute uniquely to discussions. There were necessary moments, however, when dealing with issues of identity, particularly difference, that students felt they were not as relevant to the discussion because they spoke from places of privilege or lack thereof. I recall one fellow student's struggle with this notion. She felt that her position in the classroom was limited because she did not share the degree of social marginalization that many of the rest of us enjoyed. This was a revelation to me. Never had I thought of my own marginalization as a place of priviledge and power, but over time it had become exactly that. For the first time in my life my social difference was allowing me unique access into critical discussions and suddenly I realized it had also become a conceptual blindspot. My classmate asked Bev about her own subject position: "Must I always speak from this place?" "No," Bev replied, "you will not always speak from that place, but you can never speak without it." That was a critical moment for me. I finally felt like I was in my skin and now I was learning to see that skin, peel it back, let it heal, move forward. Let it be a part of me that I hold gently. Learning to ask difficult questions about identity with "our places" intact (even though these places may be constrantly in flux) is an important process I learned from Bev which I employ now within my own seminar classes. We learn together to become "comfortable being uncomfortable," as we explore our individual avenues for social change.'

Bev has a way of making students feel comfortable in seminars and she asks us to take responsibility for our positions and social difference. Never did I feel that my sexual orientation was a liability. Indeed, it became a position of strength and insight which must now be balanced and monitored and challenged. For this, I am indebted.

Kip

Diamond Festschrift Student Discussion Board

Dear Friends,

On June 4, 2008 Bev Diamond will turn 60. As a birthday tribute to her, Robin Elliot (University of Toronto) and Gordon Smith (Queen's University) are editing a book of essays and tributes by her colleagues, friends and former students. Wilfred Laurier University will be publishing this Festschrift in 2008. Robin and Gordon have asked me to coordinate a 9000-word collective contribution by Bev's former students. To help coordinate this effort, I am joined by several colleagues, including Virginia Caputo, Sam Cronk and Andra McCartney who will be 'looking in' on the blog and furthering group discussion.

The editors are particularly interested in your thoughts on four topics that are close to Bev's heart:

1) Music and gender
2) Indigenous popular musics
3) Music instruments as cultural metaphor
4) The historiography of Canadian music

I suspect, however, that there are many more topics we might like to raise, including, for instance, Bev's pedagogical techniques. Sam is interested in exploring Bev's thoughts on the broader role of the academy in terms of ethnomusicology and Canadian culture. Virginia is interested in discussing Bev's influence on the gendered understanding of identity through music. Andra is keen to set up a separate forum where sound makers could contribute to the dialogue through composition and remixing. We could then establish a web page that would be linked with the essays. Of course, other forms of art are welcome too (perhaps we should include a sample of Bev's famous 'doodling'?) Do any folks have pictures they also might like to share? We could set up another website to be able to display these images as well.

There are several ways to set up this forum. We could establish a blog for each topic, but that would exclude possible cross-discussions, and I believe these could be quite rich. It seems more fitting, given the complex ways in which Bev thinks through and draws together different issues, to have one blog where individuals can respond to specific postings, sometimes 'leapfrogging' other discussions, but with the possibility of interweaving ideas.

Bev is aware of this project and gives us her blessing. She might even be logging in to check the shape of the discussions from time to time. She humbly has asked us, however, that the reflections be limited to ideas and the field, as opposed to her as an individual. We will attempt to respect her wishes, although I suspect this request will occasionally be overruled.

The blog will remain active from September 5 until October 1. We will be editing the work in October.

We are very excited about this project, and, while several of us are functioning as stewards, we see this as a truly collaborative effort. We hope you will be able to participate in this dialogue, and honor our friend, teacher and colleague.

With best wishes,

Kip Pegley
Queen's University