Moving Beyond Orthodoxy: Reconsidering Notions of Music and Social Transformation
Author(s):
Kim Boeskov
Publication Year:
2007
Type:
journal article
Journal/Book Title
Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education
Publisher
Editor(s):
Pages:
92-117
Volume:
17
Issue:
2
Abstract:
Critical scholars have noted a tendency in the field of music education toward idealization of the socially transformative power of music and a disregard of the counterproductive or ambiguous outcomes of social music making. In this article, I discuss some of the dominant conceptualizations addressing music as a means of social transformation, and I argue that these conceptions need to be expanded to fully account for these complex processes. By applying a theoretical model derived from critical musicology dealing with music’s mediation of the social on multiple levels, I propose an analytical strategy more attentive to the antagonistic and ambiguous social effects of musicking. This strategy is exemplified through an analysis of a music program in a Palestinian refugee camp, and I show how such critical analyses of musical sociality potentially result in recognition of a complex intersection of transgressive and normative functions of musical practice.
Citation (Chicago Author-Date):
Boeskov, Kim. 2018. “Moving Beyond Orthodoxy: Reconsidering Notions of Music and Social Transformation.” Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 17 (2): 92–117. https://doi.org/10.22176/act17.1.92.