According to Camlin (2020, citing Bourdieu, 1979), a rational community is one that already exists and has been canonized through the act of ‘distinction.’ In a rational community, the established principles and practices recognized as appropriate for that particular community are considered the standard. By repeating the meaning of an utterance without depending on the moment or its wording—similar to banking education—information in the form of ‘rational’ knowledge is conserved. It can be repeated across generations and by various individuals. A rational community gives a voice to its members. While this language enables them to express themselves, it is a speech limited by their membership in the rational community. This means that the voice they use is a representative voice.
This talk explores case studies that demonstrate how, through musicking, individuals form another type of community—the Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common. The case studies include Hong Kong migrant musicians settling in the UK. This new community emerges when practitioners become revolutionary, redraw the limits, pose problems, and engage with historical realities in their practice. By understanding the existence of limitations and boundaries, practitioners can reconstitute their existence, making it more human (Freire, 1970), and challenge the dominant power of rationality.
About Chiying Lam
Chiying Lam is a Lecturer in Community Music and Social Justice at the University of Southampton. She also serves as the Deputy Director of Southampton Centre for Music Education and Social Justice. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Chiying completed her doctoral studies at the Royal College of Music, London. Her research focuses on musicians' pedagogical practices and post-colonial discourses of power and identity within the music practitioner community. She holds a BEd (Honours) and a MA in Music Education from The Education University of Hong Kong. Currently, she is the convenor of the Social Justice Special Interest Group (SIG) of the British Educational Research Association (BERA). Chiying is also a trustee of the European Piano Teachers Association (EPTA).
