Toward a Mi'kma'ki Art Music: Implications of the Peace and Friendship Treaties for Western Art Music in Nova Scotia

Abstract

This paper explores the implications of the Treaties of Peace and Friendship for Western art music in Nova Scotia. By examining the Treaties not only as historic documents but, from Mi’kmaw perspectives, as living relationships, this paper suggests that the Treaties offer a framework for collaborations between Western art music institutions and Mi’kmaw communities. Further, it argues that Western art music and the Treaties intersect historically at a deeper level. In particular, the ways in which this music has been heard by colonials in Nova Scotia has given resonance to Eurocentric ideologies about civilization—ideologies that have undergirded colonial denial of the Treaties for three centuries. Thus, this paper suggests that the musical path to reconciliation in the Nova Scotian context requires critiquing the ways in which Western art music has been heard as civilization, as civilized, and as civilizing, and co-working toward a Treaty-informed, unique Mi’kma’ki art music culture.