Music in the Intercultural School: Uncovering Spaces for Agency and Belonging

This project is concerned with both learner and teacher experiences of musical spaces within diverse primary and post­primary classrooms in Ireland. Through the lens of interculturalism, the project examines socio-musical practices in schools and how such relational spaces might create spaces for agency and belonging. At the same time, the project also critically investigates the potential for racial othering, majority privilege and stereotyping through these spaces. The school music experiences for children from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds are of particular interest to this project. The research is based on the premise that music making in an intercultural school is about far more than diversifying content. It is about reflexive and collaborative experiences developed through group socio-musical activity. Questions are asked about the types of musical spaces created in school, what role music plays in managing the complexities, challenges and opportunities that diversity brings? Who is included and excluded? How do children from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds explore and project musical identities? What opportunities does music provide for developing agency and a sense of belonging? How are children and teachers negotiating musical spaces as intercultural encounters? Taking an ethnographic multiple case study approach, the research investigates school, whole class and individual musical experiences and trajectories of children from asylum seeking and refugee backgrounds as they negotiate school life more broadly. Teacher's perceptions and practices are also interrogated to critically reflect on their experiences of teaching music in diverse classrooms. Data is gathered through qualitative and arts-based research methods that harness participatory approaches. Thus, the project seeks to provide informed, critical and nuanced understandings of what an intercultural music education is and could be.

This project has received funding from the IRC Starting Laureate Awards Programme (€400,000) and from the IRC Ukrainian Researchers Scheme (€81,890).