The Cultural Diversity in Music Education (CDIME) conference has provided a platform for the exchange of practices, experiences, research and philosophies on cultural diversity in music education since 1992. In 2017, the CDIME XIII international conference will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, jointly convened by the Nepal Music Center and the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland. As the first music education conference to be held in Nepal, CDIME XIII will be a historic event. With various musics holding such important, and different roles in Nepali society, the context of the conference will set the stage for scholars to extend interdisciplinary discussions of music education and cultural diversity to new contexts, to critically attend to challenges and complexities at both local and global levels, and to envision new possibilities for music education in the future.
The conference will address various issues relevant to cultural diversity in music education. Contributions are sought from scholars, researchers and postgraduate students representing the fields of music education and related disciplines; musicians, music teachers, policymakers and practitioners; and those working for local, national or transnational music-related agencies with the aim of fostering cultural diversity.
CDIME began in Amsterdam in 1992 as a network of specialists in music education, ethnomusicology, and world music performance studies, and was initially interested in studying the phenomenon of 'teaching world music.' CDIME has expanded its interests within music, education and culture, pursuing questions of position, content, methodology, and appropriate and effective pedagogy relevant to teaching music and culture to students in a range of educational settings. These diverse settings include multicultural populations in elementary and secondary schools, in undergraduate music programs in colleges, universities, and conservatories, and in community schools. In keeping with the dynamism found in music, education and culture, this conference hopes to continue to pursue questions of teaching and learning in creating, performing, and responding to the art, folk, traditional and popular musics of the world's cultures.
In recent years, professional and academic discourses in Western music education have been increasingly secularized, distancing policies and practices from religion. A renewed consciousness of cultural diversity in music education, however, has revitalized discussion regarding the nexus of music, education and religion. The presence of religion in music education contexts is a situation fraught with political, cultural, social, legal, educational, aesthetic, ethical, and religious tensions. Addressing the theme, we welcome scholars from any relevant disciplines and perspectives such as education, music education, critical pedagogy, musicology, ethnomusicology, religious studies, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, policy studies, legal studies etc. for a critical examination of these complex issues in both theory and practice.