The Paradox of Democracy in Popular Music Education: Intersectionalizing “Youth” Through Curriculum Analysis

Abstract

In this chapter, we unpack the complex politics of popular music education (PME) in schools through an examination of the ways in which youth and youth culture are represented in the Finnish National Core Curricula (2004 and 2014). Interrogating commonly held conceptualizations of diversity in music education, we identify a paradox in school-based PME which, on the one hand, aims toward democratic classroom practice yet, on the other, neglects diversity by approaching youth as a homogenous group. Challenging common analytical points of departure in PME research, we argue that scholars and educators need to recognize the multiple and intersecting identities of students if PME is to afford them equal opportunities for participation. Overall, we suggest that through the analytical lens of intersectionality, PME may be better positioned to take into account students’ own experiences of inequalities, providing new perspectives on diversity at the policy level. Thus, intersectionality could provide a useful analytical frame in the process of furthering further democratic practice in the classroom.

Visions for intercultural music teacher education in complex societies

“…• • Identify and respond imaginatively to the influence and efficacy of intersecting structures that result in social or cultural exclusions relating to gender, caste, and religious hierarchies (Badarne & Ehrlich, 2019;Timonen et al, 2021;Treacy, 2019;Treacy et al, 2021;Westerlund et al, 2019;Westerlund & Partti, 2018); • • Recognize that educational environments are not neutralized through, for example, the secularization of public schooling or the censorship of religious musics (Kallio et al, 2019), and that such assumptions may even exacerbate exclusionary practices; • • Acknowledge that organizing students according to clearly identifiable categories may essentialize them, negate their own dynamic and complex becomings, and create a false sense of equality (Koskela et al, 2021;; • • Explore the potentials for both socioculturally segregated and integrated spaces, acknowledging that segregation from the dominant societal system may, in certain cases, present opportunities for equality and self-determination rather than impediments (e.g., Ehrlich & Badarne, 2020;.…”

“…• • Recognize the ways that oppression operates structurally in music education curricula and practice (Koskela et al, 2021); • • Acknowledge that various forms of oppression (e.g., coloniality, White supremacy) may be related but also differ both theoretically and in practice, and that (in)equality is experienced differently by different social and cultural groups requiring informed and nuanced responses (Kallio, 2021); • • Continually reevaluate and develop local curricula together with social and cultural groups in ways that demand self-determination and decentre traditional academic authority in attending to both historical and contemporary oppression (Kallio, 2017(Kallio, , 2020, 2021 see also Kallio & Heimonen, 2018;Kallio & Länsman, 2018); • • Reconsider celebratory approaches to diversity that require a compulsory visibility of essentialized "others," acknowledging that not all students wish to be identified as different or representative of entire social or cultural groups (Kallio & Länsman, 2018;cf. Karlsen, 2012), and that sometimes it is more important to co-create commonalities (Treacy & Westerlund, 2019).…”

“…A praxis of intersectionality acknowledges the diverse diversities (Dervin & Gross, 2016)—the opposite to an ocularcentric understanding of diversity—and related intersectional politics (Koskela et al, 2021) in which not only ethnicities but also, for instance, religion, caste, and gender differences intersect with music teaching and learning. Music teacher education can encourage critical policy analyses and examinations of how educational structuring influences thinking and acting with regard to inclusion and diversity through approaches that:…”

“…Acknowledge that organizing students according to clearly identifiable categories may essentialize them, negate their own dynamic and complex becomings , and create a false sense of equality (Koskela et al, 2021; Westerlund et al, 2017);…”

“…Recognize the ways that oppression operates structurally in music education curricula and practice (Koskela et al, 2021);…”