By: Lauren Martin, Kate Quiring, Bethany Lampe, Haley Montgomery, & Daniel Jordan Multicultural Education Group

Project One Throughout the artistic process of creating the image of the defaced person, our group constantly asked ourselves, What does deculturalization mean to us, how does this apply to our own lives, and what is the role of social justice in restoring diversity in society? We decided to define deculturalization as: the continual, forced stripping of ones native culture or religion from their own identity to make them fit into the society they live in. In this case, we mean America. The canvas illustrates a silhouette of a person who has been stripped of their identity. This is portrayed by the gray individual that has no noticeable features or originality. Throughout the course of American history, there is much evidence to deculturalize individuals who dont fit to into the typical white, Anglo-American stereotypical lifestyle. In class, we saw a video that illustrated how systematically deculturalization can occur. In Where the Spirit Lives, Komi and Pita were taken from their home and stripped of everything that made them who they are. They were punished for practicing their native language. The school forced Christianity upon them because it is the norm western and also made them take on new names to subtly destroy any traces of their past. They forced Komi and Pita to cut their hair and wear suits and ties all day. This destruction of culture is very typical of the school systems established in this country and it negatively affects students who dont fit in to succeed in school. In Precious Knowledge, we saw how deculturalization still is a problem in the 21st century. In an age where there are so many cultural strides for the LGBQA community and even the legalization of marijuana, it is a shame that such an issue as deculturalization occurs. Deculturalization was hurting Hispanic students ability to perform in the classroom, and teachers decided to radically change the way they teach by incorporating their culture into the

classroom; the results were tremendous. Students graduation rates skyrocketed because of Raza studies and their thoughts on school on were shaken; they began to enjoy school and WANT to excel. These students were enjoying school for once and even their families noticed. Incorporating students cultures into the classroom shouldnt be a bad thing it should be celebrated. Our differences and uniqueness is what allows us to help each other, grow and learn from each other. The colors on the canvas represent the different cultures that exist throughout the world. No one individual is the same, just as no cultures are alike. The colors represented in the canvas are all combined together to create something beautiful. This can be brought into our society if everyone uses his or her individuality to create something so unique and magnificent. By creating this canvas, we have begun our journey of understanding and beginning to see the world around us in a new light. This project has helped us look at the schools we will teach in and be creative about how we want to shape the lives of those in our classroom. This canvas has taught how much there is too lose by stripping an individual of their culture, but on the flip side, how much there is too gain by accepting our students for who they and where they come from. We look forward to sharing this canvas with our classmates and seeing how they interpret it; we also look forward to learning more about deculturalization and how, we as teachers can make the changes necessary to make the future a little brighter.