The Politics of Reflexivity in Music Teachers’ Intercultural Dialogue

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore the politics of music teacher reflexivity that emerged in a transnational collaboration between two institutions, the Nepal Music Center (NMC) and the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki when co-developing intercultural music teacher education. We examine in particular the reflexivity in this intercultural dialogue and how the collaboration became a complex field of issues of power related to social positions and epistemologies. Such reflexivity may act as an invitation to discomfort but at the same time as an invitation to deep professional learning. The empirical material was generated in the flow of activities within teachers’ pedagogical studies organized by the Sibelius Academy for the NMC teachers in Nepal. The authors’ experiences and the omnipresent colonial setting were taken as a backdrop of the overall interpretation and discussion. We argue that in an intercultural dialogue, negotiating one’s premises, stance, and the ethical relations with the Other requires reflection on one’s existential groundings. However, professional learning in intercultural dialogue is prone to persistent paradoxes that cannot be swiped away, or even solved. The politics of reflexivity thus keeps the questions open, with no final answers or ultimate solutions.

Visions for intercultural music teacher education in complex societies

“…We have therefore argued for more heterogeneous understandings of diversity that can do justice to the “complexity of intercultural negotiation through knowledge production” (Westerlund & Karlsen, 2017, p. 78). The research illustrates how music teachers and teacher educators engage with various kinds of processes of censorship and intersectional cultural translation, as teachers work to align their professional boundaries within local and social (e.g., caste, ethnic, race, gender, religious) power structures (e.g., Badarne & Ehrlich, 2019; Miettinen, 2019; Timonen et al, 2021; Treacy et al, 2021; Westerlund, Karlsen, & Kallio, 2021). Above all, it exemplifies how teachers’ knowledge production is intertwined with the multilayered and multifaceted politics of diversity (Kallio et al, 2021) not reducible to simple rules to be adhered, and how transnational collaboration can help in “seeing” one’s own taken for granted starting points more clearly.…”

“…• • Examine how issues of power, values and ethics intersect with intercultural work (Ehrlich & Badarne, 2020;Miettinen et al, 2018;Timonen, 2020;Treacy, 2020b), entailing a continuous interrogation of the fundamental values of music teacher education programs themselves (Ehrlich, 2016;Kallio & Heimonen, 2018;Kallio & Westerlund, 2020;Timonen et al, 2021) and the ongoing revision of assessment to facilitate mutual exchange and learning; • • Invite discussions on the tensions that exist between an openness to diversity and resistance to change (Miettinen et al, 2020) in ways that recognize the emotional dimensions of such learning (Kallio & Westerlund, 2020;Miettinen, 2020Miettinen, , 2021Timonen, 2020;Timonen et al, 2020); • • Consider the concept of intercultural competence critically and more holistically, including its social, relational and emotional (Miettinen, 2020(Miettinen, , 2021Miettinen et al, 2018;Timonen, 2020), and political and historical aspects, and construe intercultural competence as "perpetually unfinished business" and necessarily uncomfortable (Kallio & Westerlund, 2020;Miettinen, 2020Miettinen, , 2021Timonen, 2020;, thus preparing music education professionals for a lifelong engagement with uncertainty and inquiry; • • Provide the necessary support to establish shared spaces for intercultural music learning, reflection, and reflexivity (Miettinen, 2019(Miettinen, , 2020(Miettinen, , 2021Timonen, 2021;Treacy, 2020a), such as intercultural outreach projects (Kansakar & Tuladhar, 2020; and professional learning communities (Timonen, 2021;Treacy, 2020a) where student teachers and teacher educators can practice taking risks and dealing with uncertainty…”

“…• • 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;.…”

“…Examine how issues of power, values and ethics intersect with intercultural work (Ehrlich & Badarne, 2020; Miettinen et al, 2018; Timonen, 2020; Treacy, 2020b), entailing a continuous interrogation of the fundamental values of music teacher education programs themselves (Ehrlich, 2016; Kallio & Heimonen, 2018; Kallio & Westerlund, 2020; Timonen et al, 2021) and the ongoing revision of assessment (Treacy et al, 2019) to facilitate mutual exchange and learning;…”

“…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);…”