By Basadi Dibeela
Every Tuesday and Thursday, the Music in Multicultural America class convenes for eighty minutes to take a journey through America’s rich multicultural tapestry. This class is an opportunity for students to learn about the different cultures that constitute and continue to influence America’s diverse musical landscape. The idea for the class, a new addition to the curriculum, came from Sydney Hutchinson, Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology and also the instructor of the class. Through a combination of readings, listening sessions and ethnomusicology fieldwork, the students’ work will culminate in an event called Music and Food in Multicultural Syracuse that will take place on campus in the Grant Auditorium, Falk College on December 2nd.
The event is a collaboration between the departments of Arts & Music Histories, the Food Studies program and With Love Restaurant. When Hutchinson was designing the class and its culminating event, she considered Syracuse’s history as a sanctuary city. In that way, the class not only reflects people who have been in America for hundreds of years, but also the people who are new to the country, most of whom are refugees. “There is limited interaction between refugees and the university community, and when drawing the contents for this class, I wanted the students to reach out and create a platform for cross-cultural dialogue,’’ Hutchinson said.
In his book the Nature of Prejudice (1954), renowned American psychologist Gordon Allport talks about the Contact Theory. He argues that when members of different groups — even those that have historically disliked one another — interact in meaningful ways, trust and compassion bloom naturally as a result, and prejudice falls by the wayside.
Professor Sydney Hutchinson, whose own hometown of Tucson, Arizona, prides itself in its cultural diversity, was raised by parents whose careers demanded a lot of travel. “I recall when I was still in high school and my father was offered a job in Burkina Faso, I was so excited I kept repeating the name over and over,’ Hutchinson said, “we eventually didn’t go, but through their other work travels I got the opportunity to experience and interact with people from different cultures.”
Hutchinson brings open-mindedness and passion to the classroom and every week, as a student of that class, I look forward to immersing myself in a culture different from my own. One of the highlights of the class is that each week guests are invited to the class either to perform or to talk about their culture. After reading a chapter from the recommended text Music in Multicultural America, we then have to write a summary that includes reactions and questions about it, which we submit to her. In this way, when performers or specialists of that topic are brought to the class, students have an interactive session with them. For instance, when a representative from the Haudenosaunee Nation came to the class to give a lecture, she not only talked about the music but she also led the students into the basic moves of the dances that are performed during different ceremonies of her tribe.
Through those kinds of interactions, the students get to appreciate how diverse American music is. To further drive that point, the students were divided into teams of three and assigned fieldwork. In the fieldwork, the students had to interview and document the performance/cooking of their assigned group. The resulting footage will be archived as part student research, as well as shared with the groups shall they need it for other engagements. The groups documented will be the ones performing at the final event, and the University will pay a stipend to each one.
On the food part of the event, Food Identity and Power professor Elisa Johnson and With Love Restaurant chef-in-residence Shwe HninSi from Burma, have collaborated on the menu and will participate in a kitchen lab. Johnson’s class will experience firsthand, the culture and customs that go into preparing Burmese food as guided by the chef. “This collaboration is important because students don’t always have the opportunity to engage practically with concepts learnt in the classroom, so this event will expand what the classroom looks like and the students will learn from the person who developed the recipes,” said Johnson.
Shwe HninSi 24 arrived in Syracuse 10 years with her family. She decided on the menu of the day which includes: laphet thoke, a jaw zohn, and hibiscus cooler. All three of the menu items are distinguishable Burmese dishes, and she chose them because they are most suitable to be eaten during the reception, which will follow the performances.
“The first thing when people tell me about their country I ask about their food, and when I make Burmese food it is an opportunity for me to tell my story and to bring the community together,” said HninSi.
The Music and Food event will not be the first on the Syracuse University campus. In April 15 this year, Thrive in SU, a registered student organization hosted the inaugural Thrive Together Fair. The main purpose of the event, said President of the organization, Amanda Chou, is to unite the community despite vast differences in culture, language and socioeconomic background. The event managed to raise $1600 for Interfaith Works, a Syracuse based organization that works with resettling refugees when they come to America for the first time.
There can never be too many opportunities for cultural exchange and platforms that bring people together. “The difference with this event is that it is fieldwork based. Students are involved in the process from the start and are also the ones that design the program for the final day”, Hutchinson said.
In the end one can reckon that if it means there is more awareness and interaction between people of different cultures, then the events all serve an important role in bringing people together.
The full line-up for the event is as follows: Dec 2, 2017 at 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Grant Auditorium (concert); Wildhack Room (reception) in White Hall / Falk College
6-7:30 p.m. – Concert in Grant Auditorium (White Hall, Falk College)
7:30-8:30 p.m. – Reception in Wildhack Room
Performances
Francis Faida and Family (Burundi)
Immaculee Kandathe (Congo)
Matupi Chin and Karen Dancers (Burma)
Bhakta Ghalley and Friends (Nepal/Bhutan)
Ahmad Alkhlef and Friends (Syria)
Shwe HninSi (Chef, With Love, Burma)
Cover photo of Ethiopian food preparation with Habiba Boru, taken by Fallon Siegler.