Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music program

In this article, a community music program in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon is explored by means of ethnographic methods of participant observation and semistructured interviews. Judith Butler’s notion of subjectivation is employed in an analysis of how the participants are constituted as na...

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Main Author: Kim Boeskov
Format: Article
Language:Danish
Published: Cappelen Damm Akademisk NOASP 2020-11-01
Series:Nordic Research in Music Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://nrme.no/index.php/nrme/article/view/2634/4594
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author Kim Boeskov
author_facet Kim Boeskov
author_sort Kim Boeskov
collection DOAJ
description In this article, a community music program in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon is explored by means of ethnographic methods of participant observation and semistructured interviews. Judith Butler’s notion of subjectivation is employed in an analysis of how the participants are constituted as national subjects in and through the musical practice. By analyzing the specific instances of agency that this constitution entails, it is argued that even as the musical practice works to consolidate established norms of national belonging and identity, it also enables participants to resignify Palestinian identity in ways that counter experiences of marginalization, exceed certain social norms, and expand the categories through which their existence becomes meaningful. Conceiving a community music practice as a subjectivating practice may prove useful for scholars seeking to analyze musical-social work in terms of its capacity for social transformation, while retaining a critical perspective on the formative and socially reproductive character of such practices.
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spelling doaj.art-61edca0413be40bca9c346e03656e74d2022-12-22T02:41:18ZdanCappelen Damm Akademisk NOASPNordic Research in Music Education2703-80412020-11-011142810.23865/nrme.v1.2634nrme.v1.2634Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music programKim BoeskovIn this article, a community music program in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon is explored by means of ethnographic methods of participant observation and semistructured interviews. Judith Butler’s notion of subjectivation is employed in an analysis of how the participants are constituted as national subjects in and through the musical practice. By analyzing the specific instances of agency that this constitution entails, it is argued that even as the musical practice works to consolidate established norms of national belonging and identity, it also enables participants to resignify Palestinian identity in ways that counter experiences of marginalization, exceed certain social norms, and expand the categories through which their existence becomes meaningful. Conceiving a community music practice as a subjectivating practice may prove useful for scholars seeking to analyze musical-social work in terms of its capacity for social transformation, while retaining a critical perspective on the formative and socially reproductive character of such practices.https://nrme.no/index.php/nrme/article/view/2634/4594community musicpalestinian refugeessubjectivationagencysocial transformation
spellingShingle Kim Boeskov
Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music program
Nordic Research in Music Education
community music
palestinian refugees
subjectivation
agency
social transformation
title Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music program
title_full Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music program
title_fullStr Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music program
title_full_unstemmed Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music program
title_short Music, agency, and social transformation: Processes of subjectivation in a Palestinian community music program
title_sort music agency and social transformation processes of subjectivation in a palestinian community music program
topic community music
palestinian refugees
subjectivation
agency
social transformation
url https://nrme.no/index.php/nrme/article/view/2634/4594
work_keys_str_mv AT kimboeskov musicagencyandsocialtransformationprocessesofsubjectivationinapalestiniancommunitymusicprogram