Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Social Work

Faculty/School

Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work

First Advisor

Shoshana Pollack

Advisor Role

Advisor

Second Advisor

Jennifer Root

Advisor Role

Advisor

Abstract

This Social Work doctoral dissertation explores the impact of gender-based violence (GBV) in classical music communities on survivor-artists. This is an intersectional feminist, trauma-informed, embodied study that draws on these three theoretical concepts to conceive of classical music as an institution of both colonial patriarchal power and a site of spirituality and meaning-making. The issue of systemic GBV in the performing arts has been a focus of headline news and sensational celebrity stories in the last decade following the MeToo hashtag and is slowly gaining some attention in academic research.

For this qualitative study, the sample consisted of 14 participants who had experienced GBV within the context of professional or post-secondary classical music, all of whom are either cis-women or are genderqueer or transgender people who are commonly misgendered as women. Data was collected via focus groups and interviews, and analyzed using both thematic and discourse analysis.

The findings showed how survivors are adversely impacted not only on a personal level but also at an artistic level, with their relationship with music also being adversely impacted. As well, many participants described how they found new artistic paths as a result of experiencing GBV.

Using the theoretical framework of intersectional feminist, trauma-informed, embodied conceptualizations of classical music, I argue that GBV in classical music is a form of spiritual violence, and that the adverse impacts of GBV that participants experienced were examples of spiritual harm. I also argue that the ways that participants resisted, recovered from GBV,  and/or found new artistic paths was a form of artistic post-traumatic growth.

 

Convocation Year

2026

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