An Autoethnographic Journey in Developing Post-Ableist Music Therapy

Autori

  • Carolyn May Shaw New Zealand School of Music, Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v22i1.3314

Parole chiave:

posthumanism, ableism, normalisation, agonism

Abstract

This paper describes my journey in developing Post-Ableist Music Therapy and offers vignettes of its use in practice. In the style of an autoethnography, it recounts the way I began actively to address the ableism that was uncovered during the analysis process of my PhD research: ‘Developing Post-Ableist Music Therapy: An autoethnography exploring the counterpoint of a therapist experiencing illness/disability’(Shaw, 2019). I set about developing an ethic for practice that would address ableism by using the Foucauldian tool of creating the self as a work of art. I engaged in a creative process as a way to defamiliarise and reconceptualise practice. Post-Ableist Music Therapy was developed and extended the relational ethic beyond what was present in the practice studied, by drawing on aspects of posthumanism (valuing interdependence; Braidotti, 2013), agonistic pluralism (Chambers, 2001Cloyes, 2002Mouffe, 2016), and increasing the incorporation of disability studies. Posthumanism was used as a foundation for PAMT (due to the ableist tendencies of humanism), which differs to current music therapy orientations. Therefore, PAMT is offered as an alternative lens in the critical orientations’ apparatus: a social justice practice that is not based on empowerment and humanism, but instead on agonism and posthumanism.

Biografia autore

Carolyn May Shaw, New Zealand School of Music, Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand

Dr Carolyn Shaw (she/her) is a New Zealand Registered Music Therapist and teaching fellow at the New Zealand School of Music, Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa. Her music therapy practice has predominantly centred on working with children, their families, and schools. Carolyn has an interest in critical approaches, posthumanism and disability studies.

Photo of author Carolyn May Shaw

Pubblicato

2022-03-01

Come citare

Shaw, C. M. (2022). An Autoethnographic Journey in Developing Post-Ableist Music Therapy. Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.15845/voices.v22i1.3314

Fascicolo

Sezione

Research