Abstract
Musical learning in Micronesian schools is characterised by a cultural disjuncture, a partition between the musical experiences that take place in educational institutions, and the indigenous musical practices in the wider community that have deep roots in the nation’s peoples and cultures.
In this chapter I examine the culture of music learning in Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, and I seek to understand the underlying frameworks that have supported this division in transmission. The apparent separation of traditional musical practices from school-based curriculum raises questions about the larger role of indigenous culture in education in this region of the Pacific. In this chapter I critically examine the relationship between indigenous musical practices and contemporary cultures of learning. In the last section I provide a description of and reflection on one musical event that illustrates the potential of indigenous performance within the school environment.
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Notes
- 1.
The College of Micronesia-FSM is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in the U.S.
- 2.
The Federated States of Micronesia is a diverse Island nation of just over 100,000 people in the northwestern Pacific (FSM 2009). Chuuk State has 41 islands, several regional dialects, and its population is just over half that of the total of the FSM. Chuuk and the FSM more generally are characterized by a consciousness of American culture, stemming from the current neocolonial agreements between both nations and a large outward migration. The American colonial mark on the FSM today traces back to 1945 when the U.S. administered the region of Micronesia until 1979, when the congress of Micronesia negotiated the resulting FSM nation. Outward migration has resulted in large and quickly growing populations on Guam, in Hawai‘i, and in the continental US.
- 3.
See for example the Pacific Culture and Education Strategy 2010–2015 released by the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (2010). The report accompanies the Pacific Plan (Pacific World Heritage Action Plan 2010–2015), released by UNESCO.
- 4.
Detailed information about mission schools is found in the archived letters of the ABCFM missionaries and in reports by missionaries in the journal Liebenzell Mission. See Diettrich (2011) for the cultural contexts of missionization in Chuuk.
- 5.
My use of Chuukese language throughout this chapter generally follows Goodenough and Sugita (1980).
- 6.
See Metzgar (1991) for a detailed review of indigenous education and traditional schools in Micronesia.
- 7.
In formal learning, either as part of navigation or historically part of itang (warfare and island lore) an actual mat is sometimes employed for teaching with stones, shells, and other objects used to instruct learners (about star locations for example in the case of navigation).
- 8.
It is common for example for young men and women to not fully understand the words of traditional dance songs due to the specialized nature of the content.
- 9.
A frequently discussed example is how Petrus Mailo apparently became powerful by purchasing aspects of his knowledge.
- 10.
During a visit to Chuuk in December 2014 and at the time of writing this chapter I learned that Chuuk High School has recently undergone a very positive revitalisation and has a growing reputation now in the FSM for the quality of its programmes.
- 11.
This event is briefly mentioned in Diettrich et al. (2011, pp. 153–54).
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Acknowledgements
I thank the people and communities in Chuuk and more widely in the FSM for sharing in discussions about the ideas in this essay. In particular I thank students and staff at the College of Micronesia—FSM, both the Chuuk and National Campuses, as well as Chuuk High School for welcoming me into their educational spaces and assisting over the years in my education about Micronesia. Past research has been generously funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Victoria University of Wellington, and the New Zealand School of Music. My thanks to Inge van Rij for assistance with notating the musical example, and to David Lines and Linda Ashley for organising this volume and for valuable feedback on earlier versions of this chapter.
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Diettrich, B. (2016). Cultural Disjunctures and Intersections: Indigenous Musics and School-Based Education in Micronesia. In: Ashley, L., Lines, D. (eds) Intersecting Cultures in Music and Dance Education. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 19. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28989-2_3
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