International Journal of Education & the Arts

Citation: Silverman, M. (2023). Reclaiming “happiness”: Music education, meaningfulness, and collective flourishing. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 24(si2.1). Retrieved from http://doi.org/10.26209/ijea24si2.1

The concept of “happiness” has long been debated, particularly as interpreted through utilitarianism (e.g., Ahmed, 2010a, 2010b). This paper, however, takes as its point of departure the virtue ethicists’ (e.g., Aristotle, ca. 350 B.C.E./1999; Foot, 2001) understanding of eudaimonia and interprets “happiness” through the lens of decolonial feminist community psychology. In doing so, I suggest that music education—at all levels—can reclaim “happiness” and assist learners/participants pursue fulfillment and flourishing through musical engagement between self and other and in this way live a “good life,” a life of meaningfulness and significance for themselves and their communities (Elliott & Silverman, 2015; Silverman, 2012, 2020a; Silverman & Elliott, 2016; Smith & Silverman, 2020). In pursuing “collective happiness” within the framework of decolonial feminist community psychology, the music education profession would shift its focus from subjective, individualistic accounts of “happiness” and well-being to relational, social, and contextual versions of flourishing-as-happiness. By drawing on feminist theory and critical community psychology, this account reframes “happiness” as relational meaningfulness. A case study will illustrate the nature of musical meaningfulness, collective “happiness,” and the public good.