#citebetter
Allison Chu, one of the founders of Midnight Oil Collective, is an academic. She gives her library card a workout like it’s competing in the Arnold Classic. But the more music journals, articles, and reports she read, the more she noticed a problem. Academics, who are traditionally white and male, like to cite other white males as their sources, creating a quietly insular perspective that masquerades as gospel truth.
To address this issue, Allison helped launch #CiteBetter, a mission to be more inclusive of sources in academia.
We had a chance to interview Allison about this important endeavor.
MOC: Why did you want to get involved with Cite Better?
Allison: My collaborator and colleague Cat Slowik asked me a seemingly simple question last summer: how many scholars of color did I cite in my last essay? How many non-cis male scholars did I cite? These questions triggered all sorts of alarm bells in my head — if I myself wasn’t citing my fellow scholars of color, what sort of world was I contributing to? And how could I make changes to make the world of academia one that I actually wanted to participate in? As Cat and I continued to talk about what changes needed to be made, we realized that the first steps were easy, actionable, and most importantly, minimal. Everyone can make these changes, as long as they ask themselves the right questions.
MOC: Who are you hoping to reach with this movement?
Allison: Right now, we’ve appealed to our professional societies (the American Musicological Society, the Society of Music Theory) and social media to grab the attention of music scholars, students, and teachers — and those roles are broadly defined. This means that we’re hoping to reach anyone who finds themselves taking on a teaching role. We hope that they will re-consider what examples they use to illustrate their concepts and which scholars they draw on in their lessons. Whether you are an undergraduate writing a paper for a class, or a private music instructor assigning repertory, there is a way to adopt these minimum standards.
MOC: How can people get involved?
Allison: Sign the pledge at citebetter.com and share that you’ve joined us on your social media or to your networks! We email you at the start of each semester to remind you of the commitments you’ve made towards inclusive citation, and we encourage you to put these standards into action.
MOC: Anything else you want to tell us about #citebetter?
Allison: #CiteBetter is only the first step, but it’s a powerful commitment towards inclusivity in all aspects of teaching and learning. We were inspired by the work of other scholars such as the Cite Black Women Collective, Sara Ahmed, Philip Ewell, and Beverly Weber, and we wanted to directly apply this form of activism and inclusivity towards our field of music studies. We hope that you’ll join us in taking the #CiteBetter pledge!
Thanks, Allison! Once again, you can support the movement by taking the pledge here: www.citebetter.com
This article was written by the team behind The Wick, Midnight Oil Collective’s twice-monthly newsletter. You can sign up for The Wick here.
