Queering our Pedagogy: Engaging Anti-Oppressive Practices as Learners and Teachers

Abstract

<p>Critical pedagogy has its origins in the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, with an underpinning imperative that classroom work will interrogate societal structures, attitudes, and tropes that oppress and silence. In this chapter we present meanings of the term queer, and consider the process of queering in relation to music therapy education. The need for the term queer, and our intentional use of it, reflects the view that heteronormativity is entrenched in every aspect of culture including all education which in turn includes health practitioner education in colleges and universities. By using the term queer, and its verb queering, we indicate the need to embrace a wider range of experiences and identities than those that are often hidden within the normative realm. By using the term queer alongside anti-oppressive practice, we acknowledge the shifts and developments in queer studies, and appreciate that queer’s vague positioning and resistance to precise definition is part of its attraction as a means to interrogate contemporary music therapy training. We offer suggestions for queering music therapy class interactions, by challenging the inherent heteronormativity in curriculum for health and social care workers.</p>