Western musicology student explores legacy of Cold War music in Asia
Insights into intersection of music and Cold War dynamics in Asia important for Canada today
David Chu, a Western PhD student in musicology, sees Canada at the precipice of a new wave of global influence as it diverges from economic integration with the U.S.
“We’re living in a very Canadian moment these days,” he said.
Key to exerting a redefined role on the world stage, he believes, is integrating more perspectives from Canada’s diverse populations, including the nearly 20 per cent with Asian heritage, into the country’s shared understanding of history and culture.
As a musician raised in mainland China and schooled in musicology at British universities, Chu is taking this approach as he crafts his PhD dissertation at Western. He will bring new insights into the Cold War by linking seemingly insignificant musical occurrences in Asia to Cold War politics, revealing their outsized influence.
“I’m curious to see what the Cold War can still tell us about Asian musicians, whether they’re in Asia or the American continent, and about the understanding of culture and conflicts of ideology,” he said.
Read full article (by Colleen Macdonald, via Western News, May 27, 2025)
Photo: Sun Yat-sen University
VIDEO FEATURE
"I want to challenge the hegemonic perspectives and bridge disciplinary divides within the field of Cold War music studies." Contextualized by "global musicology" described by David Chu as "musicology's response to the broader global turn in the humanities," his research is informed by this push to unite the internal divisions within the subdisciplines of musicology and to shift the Eurocentric narratives and biases within the discipline.
David's PhD supervisor is Emily Abrams Ansari, author of The Sound of a Superpower: Musical Americanism and the Cold War (2018).
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