Women Composers in Jazz

Race as a Social Construct in DH

       Race in DH is an important ongoing discussion that touches on technology, institutionalism, and racism. Behind computer screens, digital humanities projects can often feel anonymous, with little thought to the scholar behind the screen. But if all of these scholars are white, it therefore makes sense that the projects they create are from a privileged, white perspective, and both DH and academia as a whole can suffer from this potentially limiting perspective. Race as a social construct (meaning that a person's skin color only matters because of the concepts and significance society places on it) in DH matters because we must choose whether or not to pay attention to race in the Digital Age, and we must choose whether or not it matters to us when we see the screen first, and the physical person second. 
 
       In regards to our project in particular, the race of all 4 women we decided to explore and elevate was White. This is significant first because obviously this is not a full representation of Women Composers at large in Jazz, and we do not claim that of our project. We are only presenting the four specific experiences of these women. However, even if they share similar perspectives due to their race, being White in Jazz is still an interesting concept that can be discussed further in terms of race. Jazz is historically considered to be black music, with lyrics that speak to the black experience in America. Being white and singing/performing this music can pose interesting dilemmas for the performer. It can also call into question the White performers authenticity, and being both White and a Woman can only increase such challenges to authenticity. The race of the four women is important in the black, male dominated field, as they fit none of the expected images of a 'jazz musician'. Struggling to make their way in the jazz world, the race of our women is therefore very relevant. In DH projects such as ours, where the topic/prompt is not initially race-based ("women in jazz") it is important that we continue to hold race to the light as a factor that deserves to be evaluated.