Metodo

International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Book | Chapter

194681

Refusing narratives

functional literacy and determinism

Cathy Benedict

pp. 291-303

Abstract

The narrative of music education is both real and imaginary. Real, in that events happen and are recorded. These events, though, are filled with coexisting and contradictory possibilities, presenting conflicting versions. Consequently, in the process of choosing what to tell and how to tell our story, a moralising authority imposes an ordering, separating real from imaginary which tends to frame a solution and resolution. In this chapter the author investigates "narration sickness' in music education as one that presumes legitimacy to be that of the narrating subject of method and efficiency (functional literacy), of sequential layering, linear development (step-by-step repetition of events) and suggests that this discourse has not only tied music education to particular social functions, but has locked us into a fairy tale story that has a mythical origin, a middle, and, someday, a vague, and unarticulated, happy ending.

Publication details

Published in:

Barrett Margaret S., Stauffer Sandra L. (2012) Narrative soundings: an anthology of narrative inquiry in music education. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 291-303

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-0699-6_16

Full citation:

Benedict Cathy (2012) „Refusing narratives: functional literacy and determinism“, In: M. S. Barrett & S. L. Stauffer (eds.), Narrative soundings, Dordrecht, Springer, 291–303.