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Jazz As An Imperfect Metaphor For Democracy: The Asian American Woman's Experience, Irene Choi

UVM Patrick Leahy Honors College Senior Theses

Jazz as a metaphor for democracy is a popular argument made by both jazz scholars and musicians. There are certainly democratic elements in jazz: the music promotes individual self expression while keeping in consideration the collective group experience. However, this assumes that the jazz world is accepting of all musicians regardless of identity. In reality, jazz has only been accepting of a specific demographic--Black or white men--and those outside of that demographic are frequently excluded and given less recognition. In this thesis, I argue that jazz cannot be a perfect metaphor for democracy until all voices, regardless of identity, are …