Valuing Racialized Student Voices: Transforming Learning Through Peer Mentoring

Abstract

Although the practice of peer mentoring has had a place in education for many years, it has not routinely served as a platform for racialized students to use their voice in constructing their classroom learning. The history of music programs in the United States, with their dependence on Eurocentric music and disregard for the music of racialized persons, is a reminder that through the years, and continuing today, many programs only pay attention to some of the voices in the classroom. In this article, I investigate the promise that peer mentoring holds in equalizing the conversation. Although researchers have found many benefits in peer mentoring for racialized students and their teachers, their findings are contradictory and create paradoxes. These anomalies involve power structures in the classroom, othering of students, reproductive vs. transformational learning, and the potential for peer mentoring to reaffirm whiteness in school music programs. Drawing upon feminist pedagogy, with its collaborative construct of knowledge, inclusive sharing of experiences, and empowerment of all voices, I explore and critique how music teachers can use peer mentoring to create brave spaces for learning where racialized students share their knowledge and experiences while learning.