Between the Piano and the Gayageum: From Reversal to Empowerment

As a Korean immigrant music educator, I describe my personal journey of transformation from polarization-reversal, a tendency to devalue one's own culture but value majority cultures, to empowerment, a process of becoming confident in representing oneself. Although I grew up in a family dedicated to traditional Korean music in South Korea, I was heavily influenced by social conformity to aspiring Western music culture. The pressure to assimilate into Westernized culture continued in the United States. Thus, I favored the piano over the gayageum in my early immigrant years based on the reversal mindset. After the Black Lives Matter movement occurred that called attention to racial discrimination and inequality that Black people in the US experienced, I began actively confronting the institutional structures that valued majority cultures while, simultaneously, devaluing my own cultural heritage. I gradually became empowered to more boldly represent my culture that was symbolized by my musical instrument, the gayageum.

Keywords: Asian American Experience ; Conscientization ; Critical Pedagogy ; Cultural Competence ; Culturally Relevant Pedagogy ; Culturally Responsive Teaching ; Diversity ; Equity ; Inclusion ; Woke