I am arriving at the end of the fall semester of my MA in art education. Two books that I read during this course, The Color of Law by Rothstein and We Want To Do More Than Survive. Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Love, were of particular interest. As powerfully moving as they are disturbing, these two books explore a look into America’s current and past history of discrimination and oppression of people of color. All is not doomed though, both offer possible solutions to correct our discriminatory laws and misguided behaviors of the past.
AU20 ARTEDUC 7767 - Multicultural Art Ed (25474)
Harris, C. (1993). Whiteness as property. Harvard Law Review, 106(8), 1707-1791.
The article “investigates the relationships between concepts of race and property and reflects on how rights in property are contingent on, intertwined with, and conflated with race.” Presents America as a caste system where individuals of color are barred from improving their societal positions based on a white supremacy structure ingrained in the laws and practices of the U.S. The ownership of “whiteness” is not able to be obtained by others, save by deception, thereby involving the individuals who attempt to “pass” for whiteness, to lose their own identity in the process. Harris argues that whiteness and property share “a common premise – a conceptual nucleus—of a right to exclude.” She traces the history and progression of white dominance from race to status to property.
She clarifies that the use of “white supremacy” in her article is referring not to the rhetoric and stance of white supremacist hate groups, but rather the definition utilized by Frances Lee Ansley to a society political, economic, and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources.
Harris supports her argument well in historical as well as sustained and ongoing evidence of maintaining the status quo as a baseline and thus keeping white supremacy intact. She offers possible solutions in restructuring affirmative action processes that would break the cycle and better help underserved peoples to make a more just and equal society.
Steinberg, S. & Kincheloe, J. Smoke and Mirrors: More than One way to be Diverse and Multicultural. In G. Anderson (Ed.) Diversity and Multiculturalism: A Reader. pp. 3-22.
In this article, the educators try and define what it is that schools mean when they intend to be multicultural. What are the forces that shape this agenda for diversity? What do you hope to gain from this social change? Who does it serve? These are questions they offer for interrogation of our multicultural systems.
The authors acknowledge the existence of very particular power blocs, groups of everchanging balance and exchanging power back and forth, both dominantly and sub dominantly. Taking in regard race, class and gender specifically in this chapter, they mostly outline how dominant power blocs exert their power on other subdominant groups and how we must recognize these behaviors to be better multicultural educators.
Acuff, J. & Kraehe, A. (2018) CAA Podcast. Retrieved 08/30/2020 from https://soundcloud.com/user-765977562/joni-boyd-acuff-amelia-kraehe-my-aha-moment-recognizing-racism-in-art-and-art-education
Acuff and Kraehe, both educators in art education focusing in multicultural issues, talk about their experiences in recognizing racism in art and culture. They reflect when they first encountered the idea of racism and white privilege as children and how they now put their experiences in practice as educators and parents. Lastly, they talk on their personal experience as black persons in America.
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2010). Racism without racists. Color-blind racism & racial inequality in contemporary America. 3rd Ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. Chapters 1&2
“I must caution, however, that at no point in history have dominant groups, whether capitalists, men, or whites, proclaimed that their domination is rooted in unfairness and oppression or characterized their behavior as abominable.” This quote from his notes in his book sums up the attitude of whites and racism in America. The author takes a deep dive into the theories and frameworks that the predominant class of Americans use to justify, support and keep in place the systems of racism. Based on the research of the 1998 DAS Detroit Area Study and the 1997 Survey of Social Attitudes of College Students from three universities spread across different physical areas of the US.
This is a great social study that produces a “wall of color-blind racism” that is both pliable and nearly indestructible supported by whites and their attitude toward racism. Identifying three key frameworks that work together to support arguments that sustain the status quo of racial equality in America and preserve the status of “whiteness.”
Abstract liberalism-the informed class pushing political, economic and societal “good” forward, while not properly representing the interests of all of the populace.
Naturalization-Frame allows whites to explain away racial phenoma, suggesting they are natural occurrences...suggests preferences are biologically driven
Cultural Racism-Uses cultural arguments to explain standings of minorities in society. For example, “blacks do not emphasize importance of education” or “black/brown people are lazy”
Minimization of Racism – framework of racism suggesting discrimination is no longer a cator in minority life chances. “It’s 2020, no one cares what color your skin is anymore.”
Kohli, R. & Solórzano, D. (2012). Teachers please learn our names! Racial microaggressions and the K-12 classroom. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 441-462.
This article in Race, Ethnicity and Education from 2012 explores a series of offerings from students and educators in relation to their personal experiences and resulting emotions and situations from teachers either mispronouncing, butchering or even renaming children of other non-euro cultures. Identifying the acts as “microaggressions,” these seemingly small slights can have large and impactful outcomes that may follow a student for an educational lifetime.
Some examples included a young woman being honored at an awards ceremony when the announcer mispronounced her name. The announcer made a joke of the gaff and the audience laughed and she shrunk in her seat, too embarrassed to accept her award. In this instance it “resulted in the invisibility of her accomplishments, and even prompted her to change her name.” (Kohli, Solórzano 2012)
Internalized microaggressions, students taking on a sense of shame or perceived burden because of their “otherness” is also discussed. The article has a small lot of samples it pulls from and feels repetitive in explaining the idea of the article. A valid and important point, it might have been discussed better in some way. Solutions offered are for educators to realize the lasting impact that they will have and to, plainly, not be a jerk.
Acuff-Spillane Interview Retrieved 9/7/2020 from https://nv.instructuremedia.com/fetch/QkFoYkIxc0hhUVRiNGRjQk1Hd3JCeVl3V0Y4PS0tMzdmODYyYmI1ZGNhZjUzNzU1MjBjYWVjYjk2OGI5ODQ5ODYwMTg0Yw.mp4
Dr. Acuff interviews Spillane, a queer white middle-aged woman, practicing artist and educator. Growing up in New York centric multicultural modernist focused with a studio based mindset for understanding artistic practice. She discusses whiteness in art and how she comes to the discussion from a racially diverse person. She acknowledges the invisible whiteness of the art system in New York that was well established and well-funded. “Immersed in the matrix and being unaware of whiteness” is how she describes whiteness in the culture of art. Being white in the art education field makes it hard to see the ways that what is natural and normal, are not necessarily natural to everyone.
I like how she describes the awareness of her own whiteness “You blunder into a situation that gives you pause, and you realize your whiteness. Being racially aware of being white is necessary to be race conscious.” She notes that she is grateful to be a raced individual and to put herself into a position of racial humility to racially destabilize herself.
On how diversity plays out in her experience in the classroom. She notes the differences in addressing racial deficits and class deficits. She speaks of her personal experience as a white person working with and educating African American population and the need to speak of race when talking of class and poverty and the deficits therein. White-washed diversity and the choice to decide what racial battles to fight.
Rothstein, R. (2017). The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Chapters 1-3, 1-59.
In this book, Rothstein, a Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and an Emeritus Senior Fellow of the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense fund, investigates the history of our governments involvement in both legal and social programs and influence to keep America segregated by race, specifically black and white.
The first chapter gives the example of post war San Francisco, a city we herald as a liberal bastion of the U.S., as a place where systemic racism played out in government decisions related to housing. Factory workers were housed in temporary housing near the bay area for shipbuilding in converted Ford factories which later were moved and housing for black families was intentionally prohibited. If a black worker wanted to maintain their employment with the factories, they either had to commute long distances or board in subpar living situations.
The second and third chapters offer a description of how public housing began in post war America. Housing for post war baby boomers was a desperate situation for all Americans but neighborhoods with preferred housing always went to white families and lesser offerings consistently went to black families. Segregation was enforced to prevent racial mixing and it was seen as a way to reduce racial tensions. Zoning laws further reinforced segregation even though established laws recommended cities that it was unconstitutional to impede upon rights of black people by prohibiting where they could live. The real estate and banking industries further aggravated the situation by both not selling to or by not approving and loaning monies to African Americans.
The book offers shocking revelations into how the social fabric of America is entrenched in racism and how so much still lingers today. The problems and “optics” of the black community and the ghetto culture that white America has of African Americans is brought on by a society with blinders to the history of our own government. This reading is relevant to possible research into social justice issues and meaning making in art.
Hyland, N. (2005). Being a good teacher of Black students? White teachers and unintentional racism. Curriculum Inquiry, 35(4), 429-459.
Hyland outlines a view of a school and critically analyzes four teachers in a study to investigate the effectiveness of critical multicultural teaching in practice. Hyland spends a good amount of this article setting up the backdrop of the study and the specifics of the school district, population, city demographics and socioeconomics of the region. She also describes in detail the background and teaching experience of the four teachers in her study.
Teachers had difficulty in identifying whiteness as a factor in education. Teachers identified themselves as helpers, benefactors and missionaries to the community they served. This lends to the fact that they felt the students and their families were subordinate or needy or in some way lacking. Teachers also thought of themselves as able to assimilate whiteness and therefore better fit into the culture of whiteness as the norm. This however leads to students not embracing their own culture and learning that they somehow are an “other.” Another teacher she profiled mimicked traits of the culture she was teaching to better relate and accommodate them. This again led to an idea of subordinate culture to whiteness an effect of patronizing that culture.
The teacher with the closest critical multicultural teaching practice was able to reflect on her own teachings an recognize her identity as a white middle class woman and her position of whiteness. This ability to self-reflect and realize some of her actions we're racist enabled her to be reactive and change behaviors in teaching styles. Furthermore, making relations with the families her students also benefited her teaching practice and is a core belief in critical multicultural teaching, although the teacher found it uncomfortable and overwhelming socially.
Rothstein, R. (2017). The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Chapters 3-6, 60-99.
In this book, Rothstein, a Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and an Emeritus Senior Fellow of the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense fund, investigates the history of our governments involvement in both legal and social programs and influence to keep America segregated by race, specifically black and white.
Chapters Three examines further the explores the zoning practices and the push for the white American citizen to become more invested in the United States and capitalism, thus solidifying American citizens opposition to the perceived threat of communism. A government campaign was enacted by the Hoover, Coolidge, FDR and others who were already in the practice of racial zoning to sustain property values due to fear of desegregated neighborhoods crumbling in poverty. For thirty years the FHA and other government agencies related to housing used specific discriminating tactics to keep black families out of white neighborhoods. Without FHA insured loans and lack of housing available to them, African American citizens had few choices as to where they could live.
Privately, homeowners and neighborhood associations were enacting agreements and pacts to bar ownership or sale to black families under the belief that it would preserve home values. These
“private covenants” and deeds including language were considered private and not solicited by the government agencies and therefore not unconstitutional. However, after the 1948 decision of Shelley v. Kraemer, such racial covenants were deemed a violation of the fourteenth amendment. This did not sway the FHA and other housing entities as they continued to enact discriminatory policies for at least another decade after.
Finally, in chapter six, Rothstein examines the practices of the immoral real estate agents who engaged in preying on fears of black integration in neighborhoods. Stirring these fears and causing “white flight”, agents convinced white homeowners to sell their property at reduced values because of misperceived deterioration was called blockbusting. Houses would then be turned around and sold to black families at higher rates, because they could not qualify for FHA loans and they had no choice.
Banks, J., Banks, C. (2004). Handbook on research on Multicultural Education. Chapter 1. Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practice. pp. 3-25
Banks offers a very complete and resource rich documentation of the development and integration of modern multicultural education. Beginning in infancy as writings and studies on other cultures, its value to minorities and marginalized groups in society, as well as all society has been recognized. Multicultural education has gone through multiple phases over the past few decades since the desegregation of schools and institutions. Simply put, it is an educational approach to people understanding each other.
A complete system in implementing multicultural education involves five factors: Content integration, Equity pedagogy, Knowledge construction process, Prejudice reduction and Empowering school culture and social structure. Failing or ineffectual attempts to simply alter curriculum are evident that a fuller approach is necessary. That content is the first piece of the puzzle, including content from multiple cultures and groups. Equity Pedagogy requires teachers to recognize the different backgrounds and experiences students from different races come from and teach in a way that is inclusive and considerate of those differences. Knowledge construction deals with the acknowledging how past, present and future knowledge is built. Such ideas as revisionists historical theories and singular frames of reference culturally are part of this aspect. Reduction of prejudice is necessary for understanding of student's different racial attitudes to each other. Finally, empowering students of all cultures to excel in the actual over all school experience requires educators and administrators to take a critical look at the culture and practices of our institutions.
Acuff, J. (2013). (Mis)information highways: A critique of online resources for multicultural art education. International Journal of Education through the Arts. 303-316.
Joni Boyd Acuff, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Art Education in the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy at The Ohio State University. In this article in the International Journal of Education, Acuff offers a systematic approach to critically analyzing art lessons presented online as multicultural. She offers three points to consider when critiquing a lesson for multicultural value: (1) cultural homogenization, (2) the unauthorized representation of a culture’s art or aesthetic and (3) the utilization of the additive approach to multicultural art education.
The author takes special care to differentiate between ‘liberal’ and critical multicultural education. Liberal multicultural education tends to advocate a general tolerance of other cultures and customs. As Acuff notes in her article, “The problem with ‘tolerance’ is that we are encouraged to endure differences, not embrace them and work to understand them (Nieto 2004). Whereas, critical multiculturalism takes into account who is responsible for delivering the viewpoint and the lense through which it is being presented. Special awareness to political, social, religious, gender and power-based disadvantages greatly change the way in which a culture is perceived.
Cultural homogenization, she explains, is not reflective of the ever-changing status of cultures and reduces multiple countries, peoples and cultures to a single representation. Such lessons she reviews are the making of masks derived from certain African cultures for a variety of cultural and religious reasons. The multicultural lesson plans on these websites exemplify this omission, as they
work to essentialize Africa to a mask and stereotype an entire continent” (Acuff, 2013).
Cultural misrepresentation comes from the Westernization of a culture and the “other” factor and often “preserve the concept of primitive” (Thompson 1975: 25) and thus, “assist in maintaining the us-other dichotomy” (Acuff, 2013). This is evident in Native American and indigenous cultures worldwide, allowing for a perpetuation of subordinate and lesser cultures as compared to the dominant western culture it is presented in.
The additive approach to multicultural art education is evident in most curriculums in modern schools. The sprinkling in of a culture without a full description, relative knowledge or basis that results in furthering the exoticization of a culture. “The absence of such integral components of lesson plans is not only pedagogically irresponsible, but disrespectful to the cultures at the centre of the lessons” (Acuff, 2013). This is a main staple, as Acuff points out, of liberal multiculturalism in education. Black history month is a prime example. It sustains it an “other” event separate from the norm.
These points should be considered for all lesson planning in all curriculums, not just art education. To be a true ally of the student, educators have a responsibility to do better, to recognize when the lessons we seek to teach, silence voices and critical viewpoints. I have taken an identifier of teachers (and people) with little concern for multiculturalism as those who use the terms of Mexican, Chinese or Black to separate the global community from the white race...as though the four differential parties are all that is necessary as identifiers. I’d like to say that it is a rarity that I encounter such ignorance, but unfortunately it is not.
“These online multicultural art lessons silence cultural voices... Cultures should be able to orchestrate, modify and resituate themselves, and simply exist as they truly are, not be reduced to an imposed, stagnant representation” (Acuff, 2013). Tell the whole story.
Sleeter, C., Bernal, D, D. (2004). Handbook on research on Multicultural Education. Chapter 13. Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Antiracist Education: Implications for Multicultural Education. pp. 240-255.
This very heavy and complex analysis of the four different frameworks for combating oppression compiled by Sleeter and Bernal is truly some complicated reading. It analyzes critical pedagogy, critical race theory, antiracist education and multicultural education.
Multicultural education seeks mainly to the practitioner of education, the teacher, and what the educator can do in the school to introduce culture and sensitivity to all the diversity around us. It seeks to identify that white is the norm and how everything does not necessarily fit within that norm. Antiracist education, the newest theory to arise, seeks to identify racism in institutional practices and finds ways to combat that racism.
Critical pedagogy and critical race theory are mainly the tools and stuff of theorists and institutional structural designers. It takes a critical look at power and how it both affects the power holder and who and how it oppresses others.
A very difficult read. Not terribly useful to the person not fully steeped in the practices and theories of these subjects. I had a very difficult time comprehending most of this text.
Cherry-McDaniel, M. (2019). Skinfolk ain't always kinfolks: The dangers of assuming and assigning inherent cultural responsiveness to teachers of color. Educational Studies, 55(2), 241-251.
This article in the Journal of the American Educational Studies Association by person of color and educator, Monique Cheery-McDaniel, states that teachers of color are not necessarily trained or equipped any better than their white counterparts to be culturally responsive teachers in the classroom.
She identifies Colonial Settler Syndrome in teachers, that is maintaining the status quo by underserving and undervaluing students of color and enacting systems to oppress or repress them to sustain an and amassing an undereducated and exploitable labor force.
To combat this, Cherry suggests a three-tiered approach to reforming how we train our teachers. First, using a reflective community of practice. She defines this as a space where practicing teachers actively identify successful and non-successful practices and functions to improve responsive and culturally aware teaching. These communities would have the opportunity to “interrogate the practice in supportive communities and have the resources to change and grow as teachers capable of, and committed to, teaching students of color in good and just ways.”
Secondly, she advocates for approximation activities, training exercises where pre-teachers could encounter suggested situations and learn to successfully navigate them. By replicating commonly occurring teaching scenarios, candidates can be studied and coached to have better interactions with diverse communities of students.
Finally, she suggests the use of Immersion programs where potential teachers could be housed in the communities that they intend to service. This would give a full comprehension to the community as a whole an give access to a fully realized community in which to educate.
This sounds like an awful lot for an undervalued profession to have to further lift up. With all that teachers struggle with now, they already fight for effective curriculum and support and are given little by administrations. This seems like a more bottom to top scenario than should be expected. Should a system of support not start more at the top...this may seem like a good system for rebuilding education and educational training all together.
Rothstein, R. (2017). The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Chapters 7-9, 101-151.
In this book, Rothstein, a Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and an Emeritus Senior Fellow of the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense fund, investigates the history of our governments involvement in both legal and social programs and influence to keep America segregated by race, specifically black and white.
In chapter 7, Rothstein investigates how the IRS failed to withhold federal funding from organizations that had discriminating practices. The federal program had an obligation to investigate such organizations, however, rarely did so, ignoring racial disputes. Such is the case with the Real Estate industry and the governing bodies that had specific language that was discriminatory to African Americans. Many churches also fell into this category, openly supporting segregation and discriminatory actions against black people while still enjoying the federal status of a tax free organizantion...essentially being supported by the government.
With an established atmosphere of openly acceptable discrimination against black people, especially in the housing and real estate venues, in Chapter 8 Rothstein opens up into the social tactics and general business operations that supported and reflected that atmosphere. Unless African Americans had some sort of backing of a larger organization, such as the UAW in the Ford motor co. Example or the NAACP, they had little chance to overcome the moving goal line of satisfying any local standards. Finally, zoning districts and planning committees, with the use of freeway construction, continued to issue decisions that disparaged and/or segregated black communities even further...literally separating their communities away from white neighborhoods.
In Chapter 9, State Sanctioned Violence, Rothstein shows how the local and state law ignored the violence put forth onto black families. Police and sheriffs did little to discourage any organized violence or harassment against black families who attempted to move into white neighborhoods, often refusing to interfere at all. Often, in bizarre fashion, the mobs and crowds faced little or no prosecution while the victims were regularly charged with inciting public disorder...simply by living in a neighborhood.
Rothstein, R. (2017). The Color of Law, A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Chapters 10-12, 152-213
In this book, Rothstein, a Fellow of the Economic Policy Institute and an Emeritus Senior Fellow of the Thurgood Marshall Institute at the NAACP Legal Defense fund, investigates the history of our governments involvement in both legal and social programs and influence to keep America segregated by race, specifically black and white.
In Chapter 10, Rothstein explores the economic troubles building in the years after WWII for African Americans. Tenant farming and other agricultural practices in the south continued to keep African Americans in positions of poverty and in a state of poor education. New Deal legislation by Roosevelt was not fair in practices to hire equally qualified black workers to do the same jobs as whites. Mostly relegated to custodial and service jobs, African American workers were compensated less than their white counterparts.
In 1935, Roosevelt put out the National Labor Relations Act promoting the use of unions to protect workers and greatly improved the lives of many laborers. However, African Americans were not protected or included in these terms and thus “the government protected the bargaining rights of unions that denied African Americans the privileges of membership or that segregated them into janitorial and other lower paid jobs.” (Rothstein, 2017) Because of this and other liberties afforded the white working class, black communities did not enjoy the great gain in wealth that whites did. Coupled with the housing crisis of the black community and exploitation of rents, the wage gap in race dramatically began to increase as de jure segregation continued to be enacted.
As Rothstein begins to bring his book to a close, he offers more citations where the US is still not promoting equality or equity. Toothless laws and the adopted myth of de facto segregation continue to cause the racial wage gap to widen. Generational poverty is handed down in a system where few opportunities are afforded to communities stuck in system where segregation is entrenched. It is much harder to undo the wrongs now that segregated housing and ghettos are established.
Solutions are not easily found in such a complicated mess in a society that is obviously split on whether we have done enough for the good of African American equity or we have more to do. Better use of tax credits that reward fully planned urban integration is one suggested solution that Rothstein offers, and he offers multiple instances and places where it is making some headway. Improving urban transportation problems and investing in infrastructures. These are all good measures, and he acknowledges the judicial and legislative hurdles that act as barriers.
As a nation and as a people, I agree with Rothstein in that we need to acknowledge de jure segregation in order to correct its effects. Great inequities, whether realized or not, by our population continue to damage us. We must continue to fight, even if progress comes in tiny increments, to work toward a better society.
Ladson-Billings, G Tate, W. (1995). “Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education.” 47-68.
These instructors of critical race theory write that they identify three points in this discussion to understand race and property as it applies to inequity in education in the U.S. Those being: (1) Racism continues to be a major factor in determining inequity. (2) U.S. society is based on property rights rather than human/civil rights, and (3) the intersection of race and property creates an analytic tool of which can measure this inequity.
Placed in these terms, one can see a very direct legal and financial (and thus educational) effect of this paradigm. I feel no need to expand on how race is a factor in current US domestic policy and continues to be a point of contention in society. The second proposition raises an interesting point, that property, the possession or the lack of, greatly determines your legal rights to access of education. Broken down very simply, better neighborhoods with better property values acquire, maintain and reap the benefits of better schools, teachers, facilities and curriculum. Roll into the equation that little over 150 years ago, black people were not only barred from education and owning property, but were considered property, it greatly conflates the inequity.
The need to address the massive inequities should be a thundering scream inside of all of us to right the wrongs of past generations. However, for every scream for legitimate change, seems to be the roar of status quo or downright bellow of ignorance. The incredible difficulty in surmounting all of this injustice seems to have no end. The authors conclude with the disclaimer that they mean not to minimize efforts, importance or effectiveness of multicultural education but to bring to light the paradigm “to underscore the difficulty (indeed, impossibility) of maintaining the spirit and intent of justice for the oppressed while simultaneously permitting the hegemonic rule of the oppressor. (Ladson-Billings, Tate 1995).
Acuff, J. (2015). Failure to Operationalize: Investing in Critical Multicultural Art Education.Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, 30-43.
In this article, Acuff speaks to how to embrace critical multiculturalism in art education. She suggests in a passage from Ladson-billings (2011, p.34) that art educators should remove the idea of projects and lesson plans that are multicultural and inclusive of diversity and instead think about the
“the social contexts, about the students, about the curriculum and about instruction. Instead of the specific lessons and activities that we select to fill the day, we must begin to understand the ways our theories and philosophies are made to manifest in pedagogical practices and rationales we exhibit in the classroom. (Ladson-Billings, 2011, p. 34)
She suggests that teachers must be able to embrace change and discomfort. Embrace our differences and recognize the power struggle that is present in some pedagogy. Be critical of those powers, for if there is power, there is oppression in some form. Walk the walk, be a critical multicultural art educator. Be aware of the inequities and challenge them. When you fail, learn from it and do better next time.
Ultimately, an art educator does have to create curriculum and projects. This idea challenges me to find projects that can push myself and students to challenge the stereotypes and short comings that they internalize about themselves and their communities. Possibly taking a direct approach and challenging art creation based on redefining those beliefs. Creation of propaganda posters have been directly put to use in our class allowing students to successfully address social justice issues they are affected by. By focusing on and being aware of the society and culture around us, we can be better art educators and affect change and address inequity within the art classroom.
Matebeni, Z. (2018) Ihlazo: Pride and the politics of race and space in Johannesburg and Cape Town, Critical African Studies, 10(3), 315-328.
In this article presented in the 2019 Center of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, Matebeni discusses how the unifying appearance of equality that is under the umbrella of Pride, is actually more fractured into factions that show shame and inequality inside of the organizations.
In the early 1990s Pride marches were seen as ‘uniting around communal understandings of “equality” and an end to discrimination’ (Browne 2007, 66). However, there were already political fractures ‘along race, gender, class and ideological lines’ (Cock 2003, 36).
Examples are given to show how black members of the group are “othered” and held to a different standard. The specter of aratheid South Africa still lingering in the air as people in the large urban areas where “gay capitals” have been established are starkly different from the township areas reserved for the black inhabitants. The idea of celebration and protest is lost to a sense of “gay tourism” that overlooks those who are still marginalized to promote a big gay parade, enjoyed fully by some, but clearly not all.
People and groups who seek to bring light to these inequalities are jeered for marring the essence of what pride is about. Matebeni noting, “At Pride, this notion is called upon a number of times to deligitimise those expressing mistreatment and injustice and to identify others as unified under the rainbow.” Get with the program, our program, or get out of the way mentality is solidified in the 2016 festival “Gay/Proud/Colourblind” slogan which was eventually changed. One truly does have to be colorblind to not see race in South Africa. Counter protest has arisen in both Cape Town and Johannesburg to commercialized and whitewashed events. Blind to the struggles of those being oppressed in a new culture under a rainbow, invisible in a place where many of the struggles for equality “started as acts of ‘defiance and civil disobedience’ (Schutte 2012) exposing the ihlazo that is whitened pride today” (Matebeni, 2019).
Mo, K. & Lim, J. (2013). Multicultural Teacher Education in Korea: Current Trends and Future Directions. Multicultural Education Review, 5(1), 96-120.
This study by educators Mo and Lim examines the pursuit of multicultural education in Korean teacher pre-service and in-service training. Identified as a need in the early 2000’s to address the nationwide increase in multicultural students, the Korean Ministery of Education began putting money and effort towards improving its multicultural education training for primary and secondary school teachers.
The study covers the improvements that the nationwide program has made and points out areas where progress is still needed. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) stated that the goals of Korean multicultural
education program would be to, “protect the human rights of the diverse members of Korean society; to reduce the disadvantages of the students from multicultural families and help them to adapt to Korea; and to promote cultural sensitivity and awareness among the ethnically Korean majority students” (MEHRD, 2006, 2007).
The article states the necessary aspects needed for a successful multicultural education program. First, teachers should have a sufficient knowledge base in multicultural education. Referring to Banks (2008a) the authors state that, “teachers need a knowledge of major paradigms in multicultural education; major concepts in multicultural education; historical and cultural knowledge of the major ethnic groups; and instructional skills which can be applied to the diverse classroom situations (Mo, Lim 2013) Second, teachers will need the skills to implement their training in multicultural education effectively through teaching. Third, teachers will need a positive attitude towards the diverse populations that they will be teaching and interacting with. This will not only impact the academic and emotional education of the minority students, but also the ways in which the majority students treat and interact with them. From the article, “attitudes of teachers toward cultural diversity impact not only emotional development and academic achievements of students from diverse cultures but also how students from the majority group interact with their minority peers from diverse backgrounds (Milner, 2010; Noguera, 2003, 2008). Lastly, Mo and Lim argue that teachers will need a belief in themselves that they can effictively teach students of diverse cultures and backgrounds, what they call multicultural efficacy.
Mo (2009) identifies five elements of multicultural teacher education curriculum:
• cultural identity development and multicultural sensitivity;
• knowledge of societal diversity and students’ backgrounds;
• skills for multicultural teaching and material development;
• caring for minority students and multicultural problem-solving;
• fieldwork experience in a multicultural context.
Documenting the university and college programs in both private and public, undergrad and graduate programs, the article notes a sizable improvement in offerings for multicultural education for teachers in Korea over the five-year study. A solid base, but more is needed. As the authors note in their conclusion, “One or two introductory survey courses are not sufficient for preparing teachers for multicultural education. Therefore, more courses should be offered as requirements rather than electives.” (Mo, Lim 2013)
Velayutham, S. (2017) Races without Racism?: everyday race relations in Singapore, Identities, 24(4), 455-473.
The article is funded by Australian Research Council’s Discovery Projects to discuss the socio-political system in place in Singapore in regards to race. Considered a problem of the West, racism that occurs at the hands of the dominant culture in Singapore, Chinese, is quietly disregarded and a state sanctioned muzzle is put on the discussion, and therefore, any remediation to subtly racist acts in the country.
The city state of Singapore does not have a national anti-racism strategy, but it does have an unspoken system in place for avoiding conflict. As Lai (2004, 9) points out politically, ethnicity
and ethnic relations have come to be viewed as needing careful management by the state and political elites, ‘due to their potential for intragroup cohesiveness and for intergroup divisiveness and conflict. (Velayutham, S. 2017). The Chinese population holds a commanding superior position in society and subtle snubs in way of the popular language of Mandarin help to subordinate the other lesser populations of the Native Malays and Indians.
The author argues that to combat racism, the nation must first identify it and cease the refusal that there are any conflicts from racism. Based in the lingering colonial system on which Singapore was based, the nation must also acknowledge its long-standing historical impact. Lastly, the author argues that the cost of racism and discrimination should be addressed. Such instances include institutional discrimination in the form of Malays not being able to carry out certain military positions for fear of conflict of loyalty with neighboring Malaysia or Indonesia. Cultural stereotypes continue to hurt the subordinate cultures of the nation in ways that are unfelt by the dominant Chinese culture.
By acknowledging the racist activity, the nation can address problems rather than act as though racial incidents are merely isolated and it is above such “Western” problems. By not allowing a conversation on racism and stereotyping of cultures, the author argues it only perpetuates the problem. As Velayutham, S.( 2017) states in the conclusion:
For a member of a minority race, racism is accepted as inevitable and one cannot speak against it because there are no spaces to do so and importantly they will not be heard.
Art Workers Mobilize to Combat Anti-Asian Racism (Links to an external site.) https://hyperallergic.com/565401/art-workers-combat-anti-asian-racism/
Posted in Hyperallergic, an independent arts journalism site, the article discusses efforts by several groups to combat anti-Asian sentiment as a response to the idea that the current pandemic not only started in China but is somehow cause for racism against Asian Americans. StopDiscriminAsian (SDA) and NYC’s Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) are some of the arts organizations working to document and counter the violence against Asian-Americans.
The SDA is collecting accounts of personal and witnessed discrimination, racism and violence. By giving visibility and documentation to the afflicted, they aim to give voice to the problem faced by Asians and Asian-Americans. “Making a visual space for our collective pain to be registered, seen, heard, and catalyzed feels deeply empowering in light of the erasure of Asian American Pacific Islanders in mainstream US culture — especially when we speak up about racism,” the group says. (Liscia, Hyperallergic, 2020).
MOCA is taking up the opportunity to highlight contributions made during the pandemic by Asian-Americans. The OneWorld COVID-19 Collection will share photography, videos and documentation of the contributions by the Chinese community during this global pandemic, focusing on the positive aspect taken up in this humanitarian crisis.
SDA is offering seminars and lectures providing tools and workshops on ideas to combat complacency in this time of escalated discrimination against Asians. Offering:
“especially white people,” the group told Hyperallergic, should familiarize themselves with bystander intervention tactics. The group recommends Hollaback!’s 5D’s: Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay, and Direct. “Alternatives to calling the police if the person doing harm is a fellow person of color should always be considered, especially if you are not in acute physical danger,” they add. “We know all too well that the police consistently inflicts more harm than protection in BIPOC communities.” (Liscia, Hyperallergic, 2020).
Marisol Meraji, S., Demby, G. (Host) (July 29, 2020) One Korean American’s Reckoning. Code Switch [Audio Podcast episode]. In Code Switch. NPR. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/892974604
In this NPR Podcast that often tackles race, politics and social injustice, we are introduced to Edmond Hong, a Korean American man, who finds himself in the unlikely place of giving a speech in LA’s Koreatown to a group of Asian Americans at a protest. Not quite understanding the history of Asian Americans in civil rights, Hong stereotypes his own culture and loses some momentum and zeal he had when he gave his impromptu speech.
The podcast discusses the history that the Asian community has had on both sides of the BLM movement. Hong suddenly awoken by the racism around him speaks of his people’s complacency as black lives are at risk in the streets of America. Often stereotyped as the “model minority” Asians are typecast quiet and hardworking, low on the troublemaker scale. Some being able to take advantage of this stereotype and assimilate into “whiteness” while others were on the other side. They cite the Filipino grape workers and the involvement in the civil rights movement where Asian Americans played significant roles in social justice movements.
Charland, W. (2010). African American youth and the artist’s identity: Cultural models and aspirational foreclosure. Studies in Art Education, 51(2), 115-133.
In this article in the Studies in Art Education by Charland of Western Michigan University, he explores the low percentage of participation by African Americans in the visual arts. Boundaries such as perception of what an artist is, who can succeed as an artist, racial identity and lack of role models all play roles in the self-identity of young people in the black community as artists.
His study examined four high schools with similar conditions but noted racial differences as well as emphasis on arts and available art educators. Interested in the attitudes and perceptions of arts, artists and viability of art as career, the study examined black adolescents in these schools.
At a stage in their life where they are realizing and creating their own identities, “adolescents normally spend time in a state of identity moratorium, trying on the trappings of various roles and value systems in an effort to find those that best bring their individual proclivities in line with the expectations of family, peers, and society.” However, many African American youth experience a state that Marcia & Archer (1993) refer to as identity foreclosure, where they abandon or outright avoid certain identities, they deem not attainable options.
Several rationales are offered for explaining the extremely low percentages of participation in the arts. Having all participated in artistic endeavors at some point and given up on them, many noted art as personal experience that they did not feel comfortable sharing. It was noted the lack of attainable fame was a deterrent for some, allowing fame as the only measure of success for an artist. Some strongly identified it with, not necessarily white, but definitely not black.
Reflecting on my own experience, I see similar differences in my own rural Midwest community. I did not know any practicing artist, but we were introduced and had “artisans” in the community...woodworkers, quilters and crafts people. The association of starving or drug addled artists struggling to make a living was definitely strong one, even though I did not know of any artist at all, let alone any person who fit that description. My family, my father especially, did not approve of my pursuit of art in college until I secured scholarships, and still he was reluctant. Having been associated with artistic talent my entire youth, I still could not see a viable path to put any of that talent towards a career. Only with the assistance of a role model and mentor in my high school art teacher was I able to see a career path and financial direction to achieve learning. The lack of role models in their personal circles as well as in society at large, speaks to the Black students' reluctance to see the visual arts as a viable option. This reinforces my resolve as an art educator to continue to introduce, not only Black artist, but also other artists in underrepresented groups such as women, LGBTQ and differently abled peoples.
Gaztambide-Fernández, R. A., Saifer, A., & Desai, C. (2013). “Talent” and the misrecognition of social advantage in specialized arts education. Roeper Review, 35, 124-135.
In this article the authors argue that “gifted” and “talented” programs favor upper middle-class white students over immigrants and students of color. They examine what is possibly causing this disparity and why they continue to be allowed to continue unchallenged. Touted as a field which transcends the obstacles of racial divisions, the arts and art schools like the ones in the article, “rely on a narrow conceptions of talent to justify their ability to exclude and provide artistic education for only some students.” (Gaztambide-Fernández, R. A., Saifer, A., & Desai, C. 2013).
Talent and the discourse of talent as a valuable commodity to be nurtured in individuals to the benefit of society is at the heart of many of the homogenously white schools. Students in turn internalize their sense of entitlement due to possessing this talent and can therefore justify their elite education. A selection process that involves an implied prior formal training (dance auditions, musical performance or portfolio presentation) elude to students whose families cannot afford them such opportunities. Additionally, exposure to the arts and their ability to discuss it in an enthusiastic manner are prerequisites of “passion,” but are also indicators of obstacles of lower income students.
The author gives examples of students with ‘raw talent” and recognizes their ability to be able to compete in creative fields. However, schools tend to not be willing to aid students who do not have the formal training and are not set up to be able to accommodate students and allow them to be creatively successful.
Educators in the arts are especially attached to the idea that “talent” and the arts are some magical power that only a few posess and even fewer can really harness. Like any other skill, it takes practice, encouragement, mentorship and an ability to feel successful for someone to put in tireless hours trying to hone that skill. It is not a super power. Talent is the accumulation of practice, encouragement and hard work. If we broadened our definition of talent and who could benefit from additional training, the overall practice of lifting up students who already have an advantage could be equalized.
Katz-Buonincontro, J. (2018). Creativity for Whom? Art Education in the Age of Creative Agency, Decreased Resources, and Unequal Art Achievement Outcomes. Art Education, 71(6), 34-37.
In this article, Katz-Buonincontro argues that the decline in art education in our public-school systems is not only a decline in creative thinking and valuing of the creative process, but also a moral injustice. If we think of creative education as a human right. Denying a human right from certain groups becomes a social justice issue and thus we should approach it with the same tactics that we utilize when combating social injustice.
Katz-Buonincontro notes several studies that “point toward a decline in art education opportunities as well as distinctly unequal resources”(Katz-Buonincontro. 2018). Strained systems and financial constraints make it additionally difficult for art educators to reduce the growing achievement gap. She notes that if we look at teaching art as a moral right and involve cultural and community interaction, students and their communities will see to the value and benefit from it.
“Creativity as a human right in art education means supporting students to use the arts to examine and question their identity as well as their role in their school, communities, and society” (Katz-Buonincontro, 2018). The creative process and practice is well known to benefit students in other areas of learning by empowering creative thought and exploration. Putting critical theory and social justice theory to practice in creative education has the potential to solidify art education for students lacking the opportunity.
To me, I see Katz-Buonincontro article as an argument to extend the STEAM model and fully integrate the learning experience. Fully embracing cultural and current events and recognizing injustice in our environment, society and communities will better prepare students to use the creative process to explore new solutions to real world problems. I understand as well that there are definite inequities in the arts and gifted/talented arena that need to be addressed. Demystifying talent and integrating the arts and the value of the creative process to all students and all subjects would benefit education as a whole.
Racists Will Always Find Racist Ways to be Racists": How Art Organization 'Paper monuments' is Creatively Replacing New Orleans' Confederate Monuments: https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/qa/racists-will-always-find-racist-ways-to-be-racist-how-art-organization-paper-monuments-is-55792
In this article on the online contemporary art website, Artspace, speaks with Bryan Lee Jr., director of Paper Monuments, a public art and publication project in New Orleans. Using two proposal systems they collect input from both citizens and historians to create artworks and create posters and public works.
Lee states, “The two processes together offer a methodology to get not only the public's opinion about what should be in public space, but also to publish a more academic version of history bound to contemporary art that allows stories to connect to a contemporary community.”
The group compiles every written proposal and uses an algorithm to find the stories, people, and groups that the people as a collective, feel are the most important to tell. Noting that history, especially as it applies to monuments and statues, tells a very binary version of history with a winner and a loser. Allowing for the collection and telling of stories from the people and historians tells a more complete and complex history. The city has complex and nuanced stories and this process attempts “to give space to tell enough stories to see the full picture.” (Lee, 2019)
Public works and grassroots projects that utilize the community are both impactful and powerful. Giving voice to the voiceless and forgotten, this is project worth replicating in other venues. I am challenged to find more ways to get my art into community projects and find this kind of impact for my students and my community.
Love, B. L. (2019). We Want To Do More Than Survive. Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Chapters 1-3, 1-68.
This book is about mattering, surviving, resisting, thriving, healing, imagining, freedom, love, and joy: all elements of abolitionist work and teachings. (Love, B.L. 2019, p. 2). Love introduces her book and how she plans to talk about exploring the ideas of following and implementing the elements of abolitionist teachings. She introduces the idea of “intersectionality” as it applies to racism. Not just a way of categorizing racism, but a necessary analytic tool to explain the complexities and the realities of discrimination and of power or the lack thereof, and how they intersect with identities. (Love, B.L. 2019, p. 3).
Love describes the ongoing struggle for equality on all fronts for Black people citing Michael James-Garcia, "the very fact of freedom’s incompleteness (no one is free, so long as others remain unfree) necessitates action directed at changing society. (Love, B. L. 2019, page. 9.) Love argues that the education system works hand in hand with the incarceration system professing to protect black bodies from themselves. Schools are battlegrounds that, if young, Black boys and girls cannot survive, they have little chance of surviving outside in the world. Students of color in inner city schools are merely surviving, not exceling. Schools are reflections of our political economy; Schools are funded by property taxes. Thus, a poor neighborhood will reflect a poorly operated and funded school producing lesser educated students. Those of us who make it through school leave with the skills and scars that are necessary for survival in this racist sexist and capitalistic world. (Love, B.L. 2019).
White rage, supported by our socio-political and injustice system, also plays a role in keeping Black and Brown people in a constant state of surviving and not thriving. Our communities are full of examples where white rage is apparent, especially since the election of 2016 whereas a leader seemed to say that it was okay to be openly racist, that you are even justified in fighting for your racist views. You do not have to dig deep in history and Love provides many examples from the civil rights movement forward of white rage and examples of justified violence against Black People.
Love goes on to describe her personal experiences in her school, community and her politicization as a young Black woman. She was raised in Rochester NY and describes the experiences of her youth and the value of education and common sense instilled in her by her mother. When you compromise your voice, you compromise your dignity. No dignity, no power. (Love, B. L. 2019, page. 44.) She describes learning the act of Practicing a politics of refusal from her mother.
Love raises the importance of community along with a good education. She describes an experience in school for Black and Brown children, in the words of Anna Julia Cooper, needs to include a sense of “undisputed dignity” and “recognition of one's inherent humanity.” This comes not only from school, education and role models, but also from a community who values itself and its people.
She goes on to note the Incarceration system and the political system that has worked to put Black and Brown bodies into forced slave labor. A system that is disproportionately populated by minorities. Love finishes her chapter speaking of what it means to thrive. Having a “homeplace” where your dreams and values are reinforced by a community. Where education is a part of the whole of the community and social justice finds a way to be a part of celebrating and defending who people of color are and can be.
Crum, M. Monday, April (04/20/2020) Why Educators need to be Trauma-Informed with Kim Brazwell. Retrieved on 10/29/20 from https://vimeo.com/409889050.
Melissa Crum’s education related video series features Kimberly Brazwell who is a trauma-informed social justice advocate. She talks about the importance of recognizing trauma and the residual and ongoing effects it can have on learning and relationship building. She talks about the effects of not only trauma, but secondary trauma; trauma brought on by the stress of taking on some of the burden carried by those students’ and individuals’ experiences. Dealing with trauma is uncomfortable and students and educators should expect and be prepared for it. She recommends making sure educators are taking the time to care for themselves and taking their own advice. Seeking therapy, exercise and other well-being techniques that make you best prepared to care for your students.
Brazwell continues explaining how she takes the time to allow for students to come forward when they are ready. She speaks of modifying spaces, routines and interactions to allow for trust building and comfort. When a student feels safe and in a trusting environment, they will begin to open up and share what they are going through. She also points out that some students will not be able to be reached. Unfortunately, some trauma will not be recovered from because, even when presented with resources, individuals are unable to take advantage because they are not ready or unwilling to allow help...or it is not the right help or sometimes trauma goes misdiagnosed.
As an educator, it is important in my learning and in my practice to be a caring and loving role model for my students. I may not be able to help all of my students, but I want to be able to reach as many as possible so I have to make sure that my voice is clear and heard for them, so they know I care and that I am an ally.
Danker, S. (2018). Art Activism through a Critical Approach to Place: Charity Whites Prescriptive Space.
This article in the Art Education journal discusses place-based art and art education and how it is reflective of a locality and impacts community through art. Danker quotes Inwood:
Place-based education can assist learners to make connections by “bringing self and community
into a dialogue with place, resulting in real-world learning that is experiential, memorable, and central to the themes of their lives” (Inwood, 2008, p. 31).
Prescriptive space is the place-based art installation by Charity White in the downtown of Gainsville Florida. The installation dealt with the place based local policies on the homeless population. Benches were installed with a center rail specifically to prevent homeless from sleeping on them. Hostile architecture like this inspired the artist to create ceramic figures, cut in half and installed on the bisected benches. Appropriately displayed on the streets, there was also an art exhibition showcasing images the problematic and troubling practice of people taking selfies with an art piece that is undeniably talking about human beings experiencing homelessness.
Service-learning; participating and growing a community through service projects meant to help and improve that community along with other community curriculums and support are also discussed. All the place-making projects discussed involve relationship with local people, issues and environment. Reflective of these elements and meant to improve upon and directly address issues that people of a community can address and feel impactful towards.
Love, B. L. (2019). We Want To Do More Than Survive. Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Chapters 4-5, 69-123.
In chapter 4, Grit, Zest and Racism, Love compare the education system to the movie The Hunger Games, where youth must rely on their wits and scratch and claw to survive in a system that is designed to work against them. She refers to the character education models, which have replaced civics educational curriculum, developed in the KIPP charter schools and how they define character traits such as grit and zest.
Grit, as defined by the Character Lab, “is perseverance and passion for long term goals,” and zest as, “an approach to life that is filled with excitement and energy.” Love sees these as anti-black themes, suggesting that children of color lack these attributes and need to be taught them in order to better conform to white society. Toxic stress, a condition caused by long-term exposure to generational poverty, and other social and economic barriers aid in preventing students of color from prevailing in spite of their grit and zest. What is needed, according to Love, is a village and wholistic community to protect our youth’s grit and vitality and be vested in their success, even if that village looks different to white society.
In the 5th chapter, Abolitionist Teaching, Freedom Dreaming and Black Joy, Love analyzes more places and specific institutions that are working with and against the ability of people of color to thrive. Two places that she speaks specifically about are Beacon Hill in Boston and Congo Square in New Orleans. Both places have strong historical black neighborhoods that acted together in a community fashion to bring greater good and greater equality in their immediate surroundings and beyond. She speaks of Freedom Dreaming, the dreams and passions of oppressed people that drives them to struggle against their oppressors to gain better lives for themselves and their children.
Love goes on to analyze educational institutions and practices. The educational survival complex, her descriptor for the state of public education, has major flaws in dealing with students outside of whiteness. Standardized testing, she notes, brought on by the NCLBA of the Bush administration has widely been criticized for favoring white students and thus reflecting all others as inferior. It oppresses teachers as they struggle to meet testing goals that reflect the characterization of their schools and districts, and ultimately their own effectiveness.
Teacher organized strikes, like those in statewide walkouts in Oklahoma and other states, are powerful ways that teachers can express solidarity, Love says, to take back their classrooms and their dignity as educators. Student organized walk-outs, teacher activists’ groups, advocating for ethnic studies and accountability are all ways that Love pushes for in reforming schools, education and teachers. Teachers, especially white teachers, need to be willing to me more than allies, Love says. They must be willing to be coconspirators, to go the distance and fight alongside black and brown teachers, families and students to tear down institutional frameworks and rebuild from the ground up if necessary. Embrace black joy and raise the community as a whole.
This last idea presented by Love, the idea of being a coconspirator, is a powerful idea that I believe is part of the lacking fundamental ingredients that the supporting white community misses. When the black community rises up and screams that we need to tear down the current police framework, to defund the police, it is because its’ sons and daughters are the victims. These communities are the ones being incarcerated and murdered in the name of “law and order.” If the white community is really meaning to make change, they must be willing to go the distance, be a coconspirator and risk suffering. Change without discomfort is most likely just wordplay and political maneuvering.
“Teaching Whiteness, Art and Social Justice” with Dr. Marit Dewhurst https://vimeo.com/429365447
On the podcast, host Melissa Crum discusses whiteness and its impact in various places in our lives with Dr. Marit Dewhurst, Associate Professor of Art and Museum Education at the City College of New York. The present the discussion of what does whiteness mean and how is it taught in schools, the workplace and in our everyday lives?
Internalized racism, Dr. Dewhurst talks about a range of subjects including white people’s conditioning in ways that limits their sight and ability to see racism and possibly even able to see oneself as racist. White people, she proposes, often are blind to racism because of their whiteness preventing them from seeing the internalized racism they have. She continues to discuss with Crum savior mentality, the idea that white people are needed to save people of color. Crum expands on the practices that black folk have taken to ensure their humanity by rendering victims of racism as human and the contrasting exploits of racist to dehumanize people of color (thugs, super-predators, trash, etc.). White fragility, the shame white people have in identifying their internalized racist tendencies, Crum explains, must be overcome if growth is truly expected. Only then, can white folks embrace mistakes and have agency to resist the forces of whiteness.
She states that racism harms everyone, of all color. How does one whiteness hurt white people? We lack the unity that can help us all and move us forward to a better community, a better whole. White values and the American ideal of hetero-normative, white male, strong and proud as the only true identity of our country is a damaging one.
The act of critically analyzing and making changes in your whiteness, how to deconstruct your own whiteness is not only an external, but an internal practice. Actually practicing to be an ally and coconspirator involves operating in a brave space and a vulnerable place. Being open to owning your mistakes and recognizing your wrongs.
Ideas not new to me, having worked in museum galleries and environments, are discussed toward the end of the podcast. Dewhurst describes the “uniform” of the museum community and the whiteness within. I would argue that not only is it a racial, classist and societal boundary, but also art in general becomes an additional barrier. Having worked on both sides as the artist, the gallery assistant and the museum preparator, there is a role you are expected to play. The art community, especially the museum and gallery circuit are looking for a pitch, a character and a distinct level of showmanship. Although, definitely rooted in Anglo-European superiority, it is a different. Scarves and cocktails indeed. I personally reinforce to students of art that I teach, that one of the most cherished attributes of my personal art (and possibly why I did not embrace success at galleries) was to maintain a level of approachability to my art. If you can spin a good enough tale, you can tape a banana to a wall and convince people it is art. Personally, I am not into bananas.
Ackerman, S. (2020). The Time I Live In, and the Work of Shyama Golden. Art Education 73(4), pp. 49-54.
In this article in Art Education, Ackerman speaks about artist Shyama Golden and her perspective on feminism. Inspired by the commitment of the director of Baltimore’s Museum of Art to only purchase female created art in the year 2020, Ackerman discovered Golden as one of the important female contemporary artists working today. In the opening statement, she quotes Golden, “a lot of the things explored here are consciousness (the galaxy we are all a part of) and how we are conditioned to see ourselves (the eye) and judge ourselves based on how others see us (the mirror).” (Golden, S. from Ackerman, S, 2020).
Ackerman breaks Golden’s works down into specific artistic provocations for use in a classroom setting. Responding: Golden researches and provokes reaction from the viewer by selecting topics that require action. Connections: Golden, like many other artists, inject their own personal experiences into the art they create. In her case, Golden uses complex characters and ideas of being othered by society. Creating: the process by which you arrive at the finished product. Presenting: Golden considers the message each piece of art is trying to convey as well as alternative interpretations that the viewer might conclude.
The presentation and overall feel of this article is similar to the format that I use for my “Artist of the Week” project for all my art classes. My colleague and I are making similar steps toward making equitable presentation of artists that our students will personally relate to. We make conscious decisions to include conversations about historical and renaissance artists, especially as they apply to specific projects as we are working on them. For the AOTW though, we try to feature artists of color, LGBTQ, and female artists. In today’s climate it is increasingly easy to find people of all walks of life to showcase art and its impact on society without using a long dead Dutchman or someone with a ninja turtle named after them.
Love, B. L. (2019). We Want To Do More Than Survive. Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Chapters 6-7.
In the final chapters of her book, Love advocates for theory in education. Teachers must be educated in culture to embrace and teach different cultures of children. She rejects blame and responsibility in favor of theory and seeking solutions by use of abolitionist teaching. Theory gives you language to fight knowledge and stand up on the humbling reality of what intersectional social justice is up against (Love, 2019)
Theories such as critical race theory and settler colonialism should be implemented. Critical race theory questions such things as neutrality and color blindness while settler colonialism speaks of the violent removal of land and resources from or pressed cultures. Feminism as a theory is necessary for men and women, white and people of color. Educators must utilize and understand dark people and the intersectionality of race, gender, economics and sexual orientation. Racism does not exist without whiteness, so whiteness must be understood as well. Critical White Race Theory investigates what makes up whiteness and how it is most effective when it is the normative measure against every other culture.
Ultimately, she arrives at the fact that she must find her own security and black joy. She advocates the same for any structure, institution or person who truly wishes to be an ally and coconspirator of abolitionist education.
Haymarket Books. (Jun 23, 2020). Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of Our Schools. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJZ3RPJ2rNc&feature=emb_logo
A conversation with Bettina Love (author of We Want to Do More Than Survive), Gholdy Muhammad (author of Cultivating Genius), Dena Simmons (author of White Rules for Black People)and Brian Jones (Associate Director of Education at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture) about abolitionist teaching and antiracist education.
These activists and authors argue that teaching black history and ethnic studies, counselors not cops, treating trauma and putting abolitionist teachings into implementation are necessary to combat white-supremacy in our education system. They discuss the revolutionary ideas of tearing down a system and completely redo the broken system...instead of reform, retraining or rebranding.
Acuff, J. B. (2020) Afrofuturism: Reimagining art curricula for Black existence. Art Education, 73(3),12-21.
Acuff discusses Afrofuturism in this article in the Art Education Journal. She muses over Afrofuturism’s uplifting ability of find hope in a time where it is difficult to see for black people.
Originated by Dery in 1994, Afrofuturism pulls from African American culture and melds it with science fiction and technology to pursue works of fiction and predicter of future knowledge. Artists such as Basquiat and the artistic movement AfriCOBRA are presented to be forbearers of Afrofuturists. The 2019 movie Black Panther is the ultimate realization of Afrofuturism, envisioning a Black nation of Africa at the Zenith of technological and societal advancement entrenched in a believable and realistically researched vibrant culture.
The benefits of Afrofuturism are in the retelling of the negative cultural description that has been laid at the feet of African American folks by white supremacy. This counter-storytelling is powerful in educating or reeducating youth who have no cultural background or have feelings of not belonging as they are othered by society. “Afrofuturism makes an intervention in our conceptions of the present by retrieving historical information to conceive the future,” (Acuff, 2020). Allowing a vision for our students of African descent provides for powerful counternarrative that they can utilize to harness the powerful tools of imagination that art educators constantly strive to extract from students and engage them to put into their art.
Quiray Tagle, T. (2020) Artists Imagine New Monuments and "Otherwise Worlds." Hyperallergic. https://hyperallergic.com/580585/building-a-better-monument/
Artist imagine through sculpture, performance and images a different world with a spaces and environments that are culturally different than the world we live in. The exhibit featured nine artist and was entitled, “Building a Better Monument.”
The brief article shows tells of the setting and circumstance in the Seattle area after the occupation and protest of the Seattle Police Dept.
