NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1195428
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0004-3125
EISSN: N/A
Just Representations: Using Critical Pedagogy in Art Museums to Foster Student Belonging
El-Amin, Aaliyah; Cohen, Correna
Art Education, v71 n1 p8-11 2018
In recent years, an ongoing conversation has emerged about the need for museums to address how collecting practices reinforce and perpetuate racial oppression (Jennings et al., 2014; Lynch & Alberti, 2010; trivedi, 2015), ultimately creating unwelcoming environments for groups of color (Jennings et al., 2014; Sandell, 2002; trivedi 2015). Of specific concern is that groups of color are often "erased" from the picture (Sandell, 2002), creating a distorted narrative about who is and can be a visual artist. New museum theory, also called critical museum theory emphasizes the impact of these transgressions in museums, but expands responsibility beyond collecting practices to the framing choices made at every institutional level, from architecture to education (Marstine, 2006). Two years ago, the authors, a Harvard lecturer in emancipatory education and a Harvard Art Museums education fellow, came together to design a theory-based training that would help our graduate student museum educators teach from these understandings. Drawing on critical pedagogy, a well-theorized approach to education in which students learn about and interrogate their sociopolitical context in order to resist and act against oppression (Darder, Baltodano, & Torres, 2003; Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008; Freire, 1970), they developed two teaching strategies for museum educators: (1) Conscientize Positive Representation, or draw students' attention to artworks created by artists of color; and (2) Foster Critical Literacy about Dilemmas of Representation, or provide students with opportunities and analytic tools to problematize artworks in which racialized/ethnic narratives are missing/misconstrued/misrepresented. This article overviews each of these teaching strategies and highlights a lesson implemented by educators using each strategy. Their intention is to provide museum educators with an introductory understanding of the importance, and the possibility, of re-building the museum as a space of belonging for students of color.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts (Cambridge)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A