Vol. 18 No. 1 (2022): International Journal of Education Through Art

IJETA 18.1 Table of Contents

 

Special Issue: ‘Reconciliation’

 

Editorial

Sheri Klein, Guest Editor, Kent State University

 

Articles

Walking the story of my Indo-Mauritian indentured ancestry: An arts-based inquiry into voiced resistance and conflict with reconciliation

Nish Belford, Monash University

 

Reconciliation is a contested term often associated with postcolonial discourses, contending with global histories of injustice, racial discrimination and dispossession that affect diverse groups (slaves, indentures or Indigenous people). Reconciliation stories mainly encounter resistance when problematized by individual experiences. As a woman of Indo-Mauritian indenture descent, I explore my ancestral stories from gendered dimensions: hailed by hardships, discrimination and patriarchal norms from colonialization and its legacies. I discuss my perceived subalternity and disempowerment in defining my positioning and identity. From an arts-based inquiry, I use bricolage to combine art.I/f/act.ology, evocative

auto-ethnography and emotional reflexivity in framing emotion-based writing.  Intersectionality as a theoretical lens situates the influences of race, culture, ethnicity, caste, gender and identity processes within my narratives. The discussion emphasizes a voiced resistance and conflict with reconciliation. My visual narratives display and are rooted in the listening and co-ownership of ancestral stories as mine, wherein I find voice and agency.

 

Transcending gender dichotomy through art teacher education in Zimbabwe

Dairai Darlington Dziwa, North-West University

Louise Postma, North-West University

Louisemarié Combrink, North-West University

 

Zimbabwe is a patriarchal society characterized by gender dichotomy and male domination that permeates through social, educational and domestic spheres resulting in numerous challenges for art teacher education students. Expanding critical consciousness within art teacher education programmes is an imperative step towards developing art teachers who are self-aware and reflexive concerning the intersections of gender, art and education. This study investigated how engagement with visual art can provoke a heightened critical awareness about gender bias, stereotyping and equity among Zimbabwean art teacher education students. Sixteen selected art teacher education students (eight males and females) at the Great Zimbabwe University participated in the study. Participants were

guided by researcher-constructed prompts for purposes of image making, interpretation and dialogue. Visual discourse analysis of the students’ visual narratives and discourse analysis of focus group transcriptions revealed several themes as well as evidence of critical reflection and expanded critical awareness related to gender issues. Visual and dialogic methods offer promise for critical engagement and reconciliation of tensions surrounding issues of gender amongst art teacher education candidates.

 

Towards a pedagogy of reconciliation and transformation: A peace education through art initiative in response to 26/11

Mousumi De, University of Redlands

 

The 26/11 Mumbai attacks in India severely impacted the already strained Indo–Pak political relations and fuelled prejudice against the common people of Pakistan. Since the attacks, Indian people have found various expressions of collective memory and ways to commemorate the incident. While these serve as a remembrance of the attack, it also reinforces negative attitudes towards Pakistan and its people, hindering any prospects of peace and reconciliation. This article describes a peace education through art initiative implemented in a high school in Mumbai. It draws from a synergy of theoretical concepts in peace, reconciliation and conflict transformation for its curricular framework that has three inquiry processes: Examine–Envision–Envisage. This article describes the implementation and outcomes of the initiative that support the value of an integrated peace- and reconciliation-focused art education pedagogy aimed at promoting reconciliation in relation to ongoing/intractable conflicts. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of addressing negative emotions inherent in ongoing conflicts and how empathy might contribute towards reducing prejudice towards the ‘Other’.

 

Race-based mascots: Reflecting on university–community conversations

Jennifer Bergmark, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Stephanie H. Danker, Miami University

 

Two university art educators engaged in research to explore issues of race and representation through examining the histories of race-based mascots at their two Midwestern US universities. Collaborative inquiry allowed for reflective practice, dialogue and critical listening as part of extended conversations to examine the stereotyping of Indigenous1 culture and images with students and community members. Issues of race, representation, stereotyping and systemic racism were explored with university art education students, faculty and Myaamia citizens (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) in a workshop setting. Conversations within the workshop aimed to extend understandings about the cultural and artistic traditions of the Miami Tribe and strengthen cross-institutional and community relationships. Post-workshop analysis of the collaborators’ correspondences was analysed to reveal three themes: relationships and voice, representation and acknowledgement. Reconciliation is discussed as ongoing and mutual effort involving a continuous process of critical reflection, listening and dialogue necessary for building relationships and to learn directly from Indigenous peoples.

 

Batik in Malaysia and Indonesia: A collaboration for reconciling issues of cultural

heritage

Adam Wahida, Universitas Sebelas Maret

Muhammad Hendra Himawan, Indonesia Institute of the Arts, Surakarta

 

Conflict claims for the cultural heritage of batik between Indonesia and Malaysia have created tensions between the people of these two countries. The Indonesian and Malaysian governments have never involved academics and arts education institutions in resolving such conflict claims, yet, these communities can play a significant role in post-conflict reconciliation efforts. This article describes a conflict reconciliation method initiated by academics, artists and art educators

through a collaborative art project between art higher education institutions in Malaysia and Indonesia. Ways in which collaborations within and across the art and education communities may address the understanding and reconciliation of issues related to cultural heritage conflict are explored.

 

 

The many becoming the unresolved one: Reconciling the fields of art, research

and education through a/r/tography and collage

Veronica Garcia-Lazo, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

 

A study in three secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand explored students’ critical thinking and how that was articulated in visual arts education. The research was motivated by the influence of everyday visual experiences on young people’s lives and the national curriculum’s call for encouraging critical thinking in the context of the students’ cultural milieu. This inquiry entailed multiple methods that included policy analysis, focus group interviews with teachers, interviews with students, classroom observations, photographic documentation and researcher engagement with the art of collage. A/r/tography allowed for the reconciliation of art, research and education and the exploration of liminal spaces through a relational inquiry. The collage process provided insights into how art making can be used as a relational device between researcher and participants that evoked findings in innovative ways. The findings are presented as entanglements of meanings aimed to provoke the imagination and open conversations.

 

Book Reviews

Avant-Garde As Method: Vkhutemas And The Pedagogy of Space, 1920–1930,

Anna Bokov (2020)

Reviewed by Richard Hudson-Miles, Loughborough University, UK

 

Multidisciplinary Approaches to Art and Creativity: Fostering Artistic Exploration in Formal and Informal Settings, Karen Knutson, Takeshi Okada and Kevin Crowley (eds) (2020)

Reviewed by Mary Stokrocki, Arizona State University, USA

 

Video Review

‘Art Education in the Age of COVID-19’, The Museum Of Contemporary Art (2021)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kgukEQd6Mg (YouTube)

Reviewed by Alexandra Davenport, University of Portsmouth, UK