Et epistemologisk blikk på kjønn i musikkpedagogikken

Abstract

Gender as an object for research in music education is a rare occurrence, especially in Nordic music pedagogical research. This article I suggests a theoretical perspective on gender in secondary school related musical practices. The suggested theoretical approach is a discursive and performative perspective inspired by Michel Foucault and Judith Butler. This perspective is placed within a broader feminist epistemological context to stress the fact that there are several ways to understand, assess and produce knowledge about gender. Finally, challenges of operationalizing such theories to empirical data in music education are discussed. Post-structural theories, and especially Butler’s theory of performativity, have been criticized for being too philosophical to be applied on empirical data. Still, many studies on gender meanings in musical practices have shown successful use of these theoretical approaches, and there is still need for more research to uncover gendered influence on musical practices. Keywords: music education, power/knowledge, epistemology, gender discourses, gender performativity