© 2017 Brian M. Sullivan EXPLORING A THEORY AND ETHIC OF HOSPITALITY THROUGH AN INSTRUMENTAL CASE STUDY OF A MIDDLE SCHOOL BAND ROOM BY BRIAN M. SULLIVAN DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor Janet R. Barrett, Chair and Director of Research Professor Christopher Higgins Assistant Professor Jeananne Nichols Assistant Professor Adam Kruse ABSTRACT In this study I explore and develop a theory and ethic of hospitality through an instrumental case study of a middle school band program. I begin by presenting a poststructural view of hospitality founded primarily in the work of Jacques Derrida who maintained that, “Hospitality is not simply some region of ethics. It is ethicity itself, the whole and the principle of ethics” (1999, p. 50). Hospitality occurs as a host responds to or welcomes a guest who seeks entry into the host’s home. There is a great deal of explanatory power within the hospitable exchange due to its metaphoric and ethical coherence with other interactions at all levels of culture and society, including those that occur within music classrooms. The best welcome is one that leads to the growth and flourishing of both host and guest, and a deeper understanding of their shared agency within the structures and spaces that shape their interaction. Music teachers do not welcome students into an actual home, but into robust and evolving forms of musical practice—such as school wind band. Practice is defined herein as a social activity that leads to the growth and flourishing of its practitioners as they collectively strive towards excellence in the unique outcomes of that activity (Higgins, 2011; 2012; MacIntyre, 2007). Practices are more than idle pastimes; they are a primary means through which human beings develop an understanding of what leads to a good life. Music teachers are thus ethical agents tasked with negotiating the norms of their chosen practice in order to ensure that all students have opportunity to grow and flourish in the way that only their practice allows. Hospitality offers ethical and pedagogic insight into the problems and potentials of such practices. I utilize the terms and affordances of hospitality as the epistemological, methodological, and analytic frameworks for a case study of the Eastside Middle School band program (EMS) (a ii pseudonym). I spent 33 days across the spring semester of 2016 getting to know the students and teachers at EMS. Data were generated through participant observation during classes and events, individual interviews with 31 students and all three teachers, focus groups with students and teachers, and by gathering key elements of material culture. Key insights include the complexity of structural forces that influence daily life, the wide ranging goods to which students gained access through participation, the intersectional nature of how students are welcomed into and through the program, and the disconnect between the stated ends of the practice and the goods and ends that were realized in students’ daily lives. I conclude that hospitality should be thought of not only as a poststructural ethic that privileges an unconditional welcome of the unknowable guest, but also as a tripartite Aristotelian virtue. The virtue of hospitality charts a middle way between a welcome that requires complete assimilation of the guest to the norms of the space, and a welcome that is so open that the structure of the practice itself dissolves and denies the guest access to the unique goods that only this practice could provide. Finally I utilize findings from the case study to suggest a pedagogy of hospitality for music education. iii For Elizabeth and Cormac, Home is where you are. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am so very grateful to everyone who has been with me on this journey—for every cup of coffee and pint of beer, for every shared meal, for every sacrifice, for every moment of intellectual and interpersonal communion that made this document possible. Words are inadequate vessels for carrying the weight of true gratitude, and I hope that those I name herein will understand how much they have meant to me. None of this would have been possible without my outstanding doctoral committee. I owe more than I could possibly express to my advisor, Dr. Janet Barrett, for her tireless support, heartfelt encouragement, brilliant insights, ruthless red pen, and genuine collegiality. She is the model of a generous and hospitable teacher. The same could be said of Dr. Jeananne Nichols, my “boss” whose open door, open ear, open mind, and cross-armed-head-back thinking squint have made me a better person than I could have ever hoped to be. I am honored to call her my teacher and my friend. Dr. Adam Kruse has challenged me to think more deeply about the work of music education, and I am grateful for his provocations and his collegial spirit. Dr. Christopher Higgins encouraged me to theorize unapologetically, and his intellectual generosity has been an inspiration. My sincere thanks also to Dr. Matthew Thibeault for introducing me to participatory music making, which has become such a driving force in my musical and intellectual life. Matt was the first person to whom I spoke about my ideas for this project, and I am grateful for his influence and insights. I am indebted to Dr. Louis Bergonzi for his continued support and thoughtfulness, to Dr. Bridget Sweet for her unflagging encouragement, and to Dr. Liora Bresler for helping me to see the meaning in beauty and the beauty in meaning. v My doctoral colleagues and fellow annex dwellers have been a source of strength and shared purpose. Thanks to Jennifer, Ben, Tim, Channing, Joe, Chris, and Emma for the support, the feedback, the conversations, and the laughter. Thanks also to Mauricio for his friendship and his thoughtful comments on this project. To “Susan” and the other teachers and students at “Eastside Middle School,” thank you for opening your classroom and your lives to me. You trusted me, and I hope I have honored that trust. Keep doing good. I offer my deepest thanks to my family. My parents, Michael and Liza, have continually given their unending love and support even when I could not quite explain what I was up to. Cormac, my son, has been understanding and honest in the way only a toddler can be. Thanks for the encouragement buddy. Finally to my wife, Elizabeth, whose compassion, grace, support, and encouragement know no bounds. You have shown me what unconditional truly means, and I am forever grateful. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PROLOGUE: AN UNEXPECTED WELCOME .................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 4 Opening Hospitality ..................................................................................................... 7 Hospitality as Metaphor ............................................................................................... 9 Living with the Unwelcome ....................................................................................... 11 Knocking on the Door of Music Education ............................................................... 14 Overview of the Study ............................................................................................... 19 (De)limitations of the Study ....................................................................................... 21 Looking Forward ....................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 2: AN ETHICAL AND CONCEPTUAL THRESHOLD .................................. 23 Ethical Systems in Music Education .......................................................................... 25 Ethical Foci in Music Education ................................................................................ 28 Poststructural Hospitality .......................................................................................... 34 Hospitality in Education and Music Education ........................................................ 40 Developing an Ethic of Hospitality for Music Education .......................................... 48 Towards the Study ..................................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 52 Case Study Design ..................................................................................................... 52 Data Generation ......................................................................................................... 58 Analysis...................................................................................................................... 63 Clarifying Researcher Bias and Concerns ................................................................. 70 Towards the Case ....................................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 4: THE EASTSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL BAND PROGRAM .......................... 73 A Complex Morning .................................................................................................. 73 Over the Threshold ...................................................................................................