Peter Dale

In recent years, researchers and theorists of music education have taken a stronger interest in questions of justice. Meanwhile, in educational research more broadly, there has been a simultaneous growth in efforts to bring deconstruction and the theories of Jacques Derrida to bear upon philosophies of education. One significant difficulty with the latter effort, however, has been Derrida’s insistence that justice, about which he wrote a great deal in his later years, is impossible. This article suggests that, nevertheless, music education can perhaps present special opportunities for something like Derridean justice in the classroom. The author suggests that his own encouragement of DJing and MCing in his inner-city music classroom may have made possible precisely such a seeming impossibility. Given, however, that Derrida’s conception of justice is contingent upon aporia, any decision on this matter must be infinitely deferred. Despite this, the article suggests that elements of Derrida’s theoretical insistence upon aporia can remain valuable to teachers who would strive for an ethical classroom practice.