Pre-service Art Education: Examining Constructions of Whiteness in/through Visual Culture

Abstract

In this paper, I describe an arts-based curricular project taught to ten White-identifying and two non-White-identifying pre-service art teachers in Fall of 2018. The curriculum used a cultural studies framework to examine Whiteness as both a hegemonic cultural construction and identity construct. As a means to expand an arts-based pedagogy and curriculum, I utilize film as a pedagogical tool, and the circuit of culture, as a framework to reveal the power inherent within various “moments” or processes of visualization culture. By using this framework, students analyzed, exposed and challenged White supremacist ideologies and were given a contemporary way to examine Whiteness and the power invested in its creation and how this investment impacts every part of their personal and professional lives. Three key cultural analyses of Whiteness are offered in this paper. In sum, I propose the necessity of development of Whiteness art education curricula in support of critical multicultural methods and give suggestions of next steps for art education.

Decolonizing Intervention for Asian Racial Justice: Advancing Antiracist Art Inquiry Through Contemporary Asian Immigrant Art Practice

“…Recent antiracist awareness and proposals in the field of art education have provided significant directions for art research and praxis that disrupt the structure and operations of deep-rooted racism (Acuff, 2018;Desai, 2010;Kraehe & Acuff, 2021;Kraehe et al, 2018;Lawton, 2018;Rolling, 2010Rolling, , 2020Wilson, 2019). Particularly, mobilizing critical race theory as the conceptual tool, Kraehe et al (2018) have brought a major intervention to the field by discussing how Whiteness and White supremacy operate to legitimate their violence and hegemony through visual representation, discourse, and art praxis.…”