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ERIC Number: EJ1117552
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Oct
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1545-4517
EISSN: N/A
Challenging Age Power Structures: Creating a Public Sphere in Preschool through "Musicking"
Wassrin, Maria
Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, v15 n5 p25-50 Oct 2016
This article explores the possibility of conceiving preschool music activities as a way of forming spaces of participation with society's youngest. The discussion draws on Hannah Arendt's ([1958] 1998) definition of public spheres, and the argumentation is closely linked to an empirical example from musicking events with 1-3 year olds in a non-typical, arts-focused Swedish preschool. In their promotion of equality and plurality in this preschool, the children and the music pedagogues co-construct a public sphere by using a multitude of "languages" and challenge both the hegemonic position of verbal language and other age power structures. In this promotion, other "subjects of music" come into being. Thus, it is argued that society can perceive children as legitimized citizens in the "here and now" and not only in a distant future when they have become fully educated adults. The article challenges current preschool music education and demonstrates alternative social constructions.
MayDay Group. Brandon University School of Music, 270 18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba R7A 6A9, Canada. Tel: 204-571-8990; Fax: 204-727-7318; Web site: http://act.maydaygroup.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Preschool Education; Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A