INVITED to the FEAST?: PROBLEMS of HOSPITALITY, COLONIALITY and IDENTITY in the MUSIC CLASSROOM. ELEANOR M. JOHNSTON a Dissertat
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INVITED TO THE FEAST?: PROBLEMS OF HOSPITALITY, COLONIALITY AND IDENTITY IN THE MUSIC CLASSROOM. ELEANOR M. JOHNSTON A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Education York University Toronto, Ontario July 2020 © Eleanor M. Johnston, 2020 i Abstract This study sought to understand the complicated interactions of student, teacher, curriculum and curricular objects in one junior music classroom in Ontario. This work was taken up under Derrida’s call for cities of refuge in On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness while mindful of the ways in which colonial structures can appear cosmopolitan, as in the trope of music as universal language. It explored how changing the music that was studied might affect their perception of their own and others’ belonging in the music room. This in turn, asks us to consider how curricular choices affect behavior, engagement and success in our students. Through ethnographically informed methods including interviews and observations, surveys and a curricular intervention using global pop music, student and teacher attitudes and engagement with diverse musics and cultures were examined. Three major themes emerged in the analysis; complex and conflicted identities in students who believed much of their tastes and selves did not belong at school, a rapid fluidity in musical taste, and the omnipresent shadow of a Western cultural framework of music curriculum, academic success, and schooling behavior and expectations. Several pedagogical and curricular implications were explored, including engaging students through academic approaches to music, student belonging and hospitality practices, and the difficulties of reception of multicultural approaches within the school. ii Dedication For my parents, who gave me music, my husband, who makes my music, and my daughters, who are my music. iii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not be what it is without the steadfast and generous nurturance of Dr. Karen Krasny; throughout luxuriously discursive afternoons enriched with Bakhtin, Dewey, coffee cake (with sour cream), in frantic drafts, exchanged past bedtime, with introductions to colleagues, and the occasional reminder to take an afternoon to smell the roses, she steadily guided me through the last five years, keeping me on course, and bringing the fun too! My committee members, Dr. Aparna Tarc and Dr. Jen Jenson were also prompt and generous in their emails, comments and conversations with me, offering further readings and frameworks and viewpoints when I was in a jam. Thanks are also due to Dr. Lisa Farley and Dr. Dan Yon, who introduced me to Derrida, and provided comments on an early draft. Dr. Laura Weisman in her duties as internal examiner has asked me questions which will resonate for some time to come. Dr. Rena Upitis was a most rigorous, yet encouraging external examiner, and her comments have not only clarified this work, but inspired work to come. To my family and friends, who have fed me, listened to me, argued with me, mothered my children when I was at conferences and generally made sure I had a home to come back to, Thank you! Scott and Grace, for reminding me that a good dissertation is a finished dissertation, and help with excel, Rosanna for help understanding some neurobiological papers, Daphne Maurer for reading through my survey and suggesting a few tweaks which made all the difference, Stacey Bliss, for the dreaming coffees, Josefina and Taru, for the ‘mom’s rock their dissertation’ support group, Derek Tu and Fara Yassin for keeping it real. Finally, Chad Martin, for proofreading, cooking, laundry and parenting, for being my soft place, and our two amazing girls, Josephine and Charlotte; yes we can get ice cream, I love you and am endlessly proud of you. iv Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Dedication ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 2 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................... 4 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................ 5 Methodology ................................................................................................................... 8 Limitations of the Study .................................................................................................. 9 Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................... 10 Music ......................................................................................................................... 10 Appropriation............................................................................................................. 12 Diversity .................................................................................................................... 13 Culture ....................................................................................................................... 13 Cultural Object .......................................................................................................... 15 Curricular/ Study Object ............................................................................................ 15 v Repertoire .................................................................................................................. 16 Colonialism/Post-Colonialism/Decolonizing ............................................................ 16 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2: Review of Relevant Literature and Theoretical Framework ........................... 19 Review of Relevant Literature .......................................................................................... 19 History and Western Pedagogy ................................................................................. 19 Teacher Training, Preference and Other Barriers ...................................................... 21 Approaches to Multicultural Music Teaching ........................................................... 24 Popular Music in Education ...................................................................................... 29 Music, Identity and Difference with Children ........................................................... 32 Available Research on Multicultural Music Education in Ontario ........................... 33 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................. 41 Derrida ....................................................................................................................... 43 The Problem of Cosmopolitanism on Land with Imperial Legacies ......................... 48 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................... 51 Paradigm........................................................................................................................ 51 Participants .................................................................................................................... 52 Data Collection .............................................................................................................. 54 Methods ......................................................................................................................... 60 Ethnographically Informed Research ........................................................................ 60 vi Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 62 Sharing the Results .................................................................................................... 63 Considerations ............................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 4: Findings ........................................................................................................... 65 Observations on Part I: Pre-Survey ............................................................................... 66 Question 1: How Do You Use Music in your Life? .................................................. 66 Question 2: What Are Some Ways Other People Use Music in their Lives? ........... 67 Question 3: What Are Some Ways You Use Music in School? ................................ 69 Question 4: What Are your 5 Favourite Songs? ........................................................ 69 Question