Maria's doctoral thesis stems from fieldwork done at singing and music schools in the north of Bangladesh where folk musicians teach children and young people the culture's own song traditions.
The participants are girls and boys from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds.
"As a researcher, I ask: what is at stake for the participants at the song schools?" she writes to inn.no.
Song in context
The title of Jordet's thesis is "Wisdom passed on and time running out. - A study of song schools with children and folk musicians in northern Bangladesh".
Passing in this context is orally handing down or conveying traditional material.
Critical realism is applied as a unifying meta-theory for an interdisciplinary theoretical exploration of the empirical material.
"I lift up a story about a vital community of folk musicians and children who are trying to save their Bengali song traditions on land that could drown, and place this story in an academic and music pedagogical context," she says
The gateway to the doctoral dissertation is a study of village girls and their voices. The findings raise a number of new questions that are answered in three subsequent articles, all of which deal with time: personal time, generational transmission and societal time.
The study contributes to the scientific basis for teacher education and for music and interdisciplinary teaching in primary schools.
Maria Jordet also discusses whether insights from this musical tradition can help to correct illusions about progress.
Jordet has been associated with the PhD programme in Teaching and Teacher Education (PROFF).
The key findings of the doctoral work:
- How singing can act as a motor in young girls’ individuation processes
- That passing on song poetry can strengthen the individual's reflexive capacity in a community
- The importance of deep learning and the potential in music for enduring attention
- A music teaching practice that acts as a resistance practice in a time characterized by acceleration and ongoing crises
Contact information:
- maria.jordet@inn.no
Here you'll find further information about Maria Jordet's public defence on 25 May 2023.