Art Education For Social Justice

A groundswell of interest has led to significant advances in understanding and using Culturally Responsive Arts Education to promote social justice and education. This landmark volume provides a theoretical orientation to these endeavors. Examining a range of efforts across different forms of art, various educational settings, and diverse contexts, it foregrounds the assets of imagination, creativity, resilience, critique and cultural knowledge, working against prevailing understandings of marginalized groups as having deficits of knowledge, skills, or culture. Emphasizing the arts as a way to make something possible, it explores and illustrates the elements of social justice arts education as "a way out of no way" imposed by dominance and ideology. A set of powerful demonstrations shows how this work looks in action. Introductions to the book as a whole and to each section focus on how to use the chapters pedagogically. The conclusion pulls back the chapters into theoretical and pedagogical context and suggests what needs done to be done practically, empirically, and theoretically, for the field to continue to develop.

Art and Social Justice Education offers inspiration and tools for educators to craft critical, meaningful, and transformative arts education curriculum and arts integration projects. The images, descriptive texts, essays, and resources are grounded within a clear social justice framework and linked to ideas about culture as commons. Essays and a section written by and for teachers who have already incorporated contemporary artists and ideas into their curriculums help readers to imagine ways to use the content in their own settings. This book is enhanced by a Companion Website (www.routledge.com/cw/quinn) featuring artists and artworks, project examples, and dialogue threads for educators. Proposing that art can contribute in a wide range of ways to the work of envisioning and making a more just world, this imaginative, practical, and engaging sourcebook of contemporary artists’ works and education resources advances the field of arts education, locally, nationally, and internationally, by moving beyond models of discipline-based or expressive art education. It will be welcomed by all educators seeking to include the arts and social justice in their curricula.

Three Approaches to Qualitative Research through the ARtS: Narratives of Teaching for Social Justice and Community incorporates aesthetic education into social justice discourses and advances qualitative research strategies through the medium of three theoretical frameworks: phenomenology, critical ethnographic research, and poststructuralist theories.

Arts educators have adopted social justice themes as part of a larger vision of transforming society. Social justice arts education confronts oppression and inequality arising from factors related to race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, class, ability, gender, and sexuality. This edition of Common Threads investigates the intersection of social justice work with education in the visual arts, music, theatre, dance, and literature. Weaving together resources from a range of University of Illinois Press journals, the editors offer articles on the scholarly inquiry, theory, and practice of social justice arts education. Selections from the past three decades reflect the synergy of the diverse scholars, educators, and artists actively engaged in such projects. Together, the contributors bring awareness to the importance of critically reflective and inclusive pedagogy in arts educational contexts. They also provide pedagogical theory and practical tools for building a social justice orientation through the arts. Contributors: Joni Boyd Acuff, Seema Bahl, Elizabeth Delacruz, Elizabeth Garber, Elizabeth Gould, Kirstin Hotelling, Tuulikki Laes, Monica Prendergast, Elizabeth Saccá, Alexandra Schulteis, Amritjit Singh, and Stephanie Springgay

Artists have always had a role in imagining a more socially just, inclusive world - many have devoted their lives to realizing this possibility. In a culture ever more embedded in performance and the visual, an examination of the role of the arts in multicultural teaching for social justice is timely. This book examines and critiques approaches to using activist art to teach a multicultural curriculum. Examples of activist artists and their strategies illustrate how study of and engagement in this process connect local and global issues that can deepen critical literacy and a commitment to social justice. This book is relevant to those interested in teaching more about artist/activist social movements around the globe; preparing pre-service teachers to teach for social justice; concerned about learning how to engage diverse learners through the arts; and teaching courses related to arts-based multicultural education, critical literacy, and culturally relevant teaching.

This book provides a thought-provoking guide to conducting collaborative arts-based research. Focusing on ways that social inquiry might be conducted with marginalised groups to promote social justice, the text offers chapters on: Telling ‘alternative’ stories through a variety of methods from crafts to digital film Visual and metaphorical approaches to social research including photography, art and poetry Performative methods that include drama, dance, music and performance art Foster introduces relevant methodological debates, giving a context for understanding when arts-based research can be a fruitful approach to take and outlining a convincing rationale for using the arts as a way of understanding and representing the social world. The book also suggests a range of alternative criteria for evaluating the quality of arts-based research. Illustrative examples from around the world are used throughout the book and an extended case study is included that focuses on Foster’s own collaborative arts-based research. With their emphasis on the value of participative research and social justice, arts-based methodologies are becoming increasingly popular in health and social research. This is the ideal text for anyone looking to introduce arts-based methods into their research practice.

Through accessible language and candid discussions, Storytelling for Social Justice explores the stories we tell ourselves and each other about race and racism in our society. Making sense of the racial constructions expressed through the language and images we encounter every day, this book provides strategies for developing a more critical understanding of how racism operates culturally and institutionally in our society. Using the arts in general, and storytelling in particular, the book examines ways to teach and learn about race by creating counter-storytelling communities that can promote more critical and thoughtful dialogue about racism and the remedies necessary to dismantle it in our institutions and interactions. Illustrated throughout with examples drawn from contemporary movements for change, high school and college classrooms, community building and professional development programs, the book provides tools for examining racism as well as other issues of social justice. For every facilitator and educator who has struggled with how to get the conversation on race going or who has suffered through silences and antagonism, the innovative model presented in this book offers a practical and critical framework for thinking about and acting on stories about racism and other forms of injustice. This new edition includes: Social science examples, in addition to the arts, for elucidating the storytelling model; Short essays by users that illustrate some of the ways the storytelling model has been used in teaching, training, community building and activism; Updated examples, references and resources.