The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Doctoral Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects 2001 Children's Song-Makers as Messengers of Hope: Participatory Research with Implications for Teacher Educators Peter J. Baird University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/diss Part of the Education Commons, and the Music Education Commons Recommended Citation Baird, Peter J., "Children's Song-Makers as Messengers of Hope: Participatory Research with Implications for Teacher Educators" (2001). Doctoral Dissertations. 124. https://repository.usfca.edu/diss/124 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. 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University of San Francisco Gleeson Library/Geschke Center 2130 Fulton Street San Francisco, CA 94117-1080 USA The University of San Francisco CHILDREN'S SONG-MAKERS AS MESSENGERS OF HOPE: PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH WITII IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATORS A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the School of Education International and Multicultural Education Program In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education By PeterJ.Jaffd San Francisco May2001 .,.. :- :-- ~ (;·... ~ ill .) •,J ·" -'.'· I ,....,.. r, ,\ jr, '• • nI ., "' "'\..,.. ,., I "' ,.1 This dissertation, written under the direction of the candidate's dissertation committee and approved by the members of the committee, has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the School of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. The content and research methodologies presented in this work represent the work of the candidate alone. \fo M-!lf; 2~() I Date Dissertation Committee L~J4 J~t1,~o/ <:.:ai'airperson Date Q2_J(_ ~rVD?. ~,5:5 jVJ'\Q ilf, ~ad ~au_~ JLGVL-L JL/, ;woJ ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my father, Dr. Paul Jesse Baird, and to the faith of my mother, Charlotte Newell Baird. They planted the first songs that continue to grow within me. Acknowledgments Tills dissertation was written for the children and adults who love to sing for social justice. My deepest appreciation goes to the nine "Messengers of Hope" who have shared their life-time musical and political experiences through this project: Jacki Breger, Francisco Herrera, Ella Jenkins, David Heitler-Klevans, Bonnie Lockhart, Ruth Pelham, Suni Paz, Pete Seeger, and Barb Tilsen. Tills is their story. Tills effort would not have been possible without the academic mentors of my Dissertation Committee: Dr. Nancy Jean Smith, who brought me to the wellspring of hope at IME's doctoral program at U.S.F. , my maestra and advisor, Dr. Alma Flor Ada, who guided me through this research with her example and love , and Father Denis Collins, SJ. and Dr. Susan Katz, who encouraged my writing and scholarship. I thank Olivia Gallardo, Joyce Brown and the Title VII Bilingual Fellowship Program in Washington DC, which made it all financially possible. I thank the classmates who helped make this an experience of a lifetime: Dick Keiss, Edgar Lampkin, Rosa Gabriela Hernandez, Afriye Quamina and Jon Bendich. Huge thanks go to Zoe Homer, Tessa Martinez, Olga Talamante and Pat Brown, who housed and sometimes fed several of us every other weekend for three years! I thank my students, fellow teachers, administrators and staff at Fairsite School and Galt Elementary School District who gave me their blessings, and to Dr. Harold Murai and fellow faculty at CSUS' Bilingual Multicultural Education Department who welcomed me and made it possible for me to finish the writing process. My heartfelt thanks go to my sister and editor extraordinaire, Susan Baird Kanaan. And most of all, I am proud and thankful for my wife and expert proofreader, Joy Bonds-Baird, my son Benjamin and daughter Lillian, who have each encouraged me in their own way and kept our family strong at every step of the journey. TABLE OF CONfENTS Page CHAPTER I: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Background and Need for the Study......................................................... I Messengers of Hope ...................................................................... 3 Singing and Schooling .................................................................. 4 Backlash Politics, Backlash Pedagogy........................................... 6 Get America Singing ... Again! .................................................... 8 Statement of the Problem....................................................................... 10 Purpose of the Study............................................................................... 12 Research Questions ................................................................................. 13 Theoretical Framework........................................................................... 13 Scope and Delimitations of the Study..................................................... 14 Significance of the Study......................................................................... 15 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction............................................................................................. 17 Transformative Education....................................................................... 17 Moral Development: The Age of Conscience .............................. 21 Music and Singing Education for Children............................................ 25 Folk Music in School Curriculum ............................................... 27 Tanglewood Symposium ............................................................. 29 Cultural Wars and Arts Education ............................................. 29 iii Folk Music and Songs for Social Justice ................................................ 34 Anti-Bias Clarifications ······························································37 The Folk Music Revivals ............................................................. 38 Passing the Legacy to Children .................................................. -42 From Classroom to Campfires ................................................... 46 Latin America's Movement of "The New Song" .......................... 50 CHAPTER III: METHODOWGY Introduction and Overview.............................................................. ······53 Research Design: Participatory Research .................. ····························54 Siding With the Poor .................................................................. 55 Voice and Empowerment ........................................................... 56 The Dialogue ............................................................................... 58 The Research Process ................................................................. 58 Recovering Popular Knowledge ............................................. ····59 Description of the Participants' Community......................................... 60 Research Setting..................................................................................... 62 Research Questions and Questions to Guide the Dialogues .................. 63 Data Collection ........................................................................................ 67 Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 69 Researcher's Background and Entry to the Community........................ 70 CHAPTER IV: Portraits of the Participants Pete Seeger.............................................................................................. 75 Ella Jenkins ............................................................................................. 79 iv Suni Paz ................................................................................................... 83 Bonnie Lockhart ...................................................................................... 87 Jacki Breger ............................................................................................. 90 Ruth Pelham ............................................................................................ 93 Barb Tilsen .............................................................................................. 96 Francisco Herrera .......................................................................... ·········99 David Heitler-Klevans ........................................................................... 103 CHAPTER V: Findings from the Dialogues .................................................... 1o6 Research Question #1: How do you define social justice and its implications for song-mqking with children? ............... 107 The Struggle Against Systematic Dehumanization .................. 108 Equal Opportunity/Overcoming Discrimination ..................... 109 Fairness and Sharing ....................