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While race is a social construct, it plays This article shares an approach for
a decisive role in the sociopolitical arena introducing racial dialogue into an art
of our society. This results in many people education course, an epistemological
being treated differently based on their stance that encourages students to connect
race. Examining the role of culture and meaningfully to an unfamiliar topic and
race in students' lived experiences helps visual thinking strategies for expressing
teachers begin to understand how and understandings of complex issues, such as
why students' worldviews may be different race, through artmaking. This university-
from their own. level studio art experience aimed to
examine racial issues in education and (Wolcott, 1991), which shapes the lens students. Critical discussion about race,
express preservice teachers' understandings through which we subjectively view the racism, and color-blindness can help teachers
of the topic through artmaking (see Figures 1 world. Althougb these terms are often used bridge the cultural divide between them-
and 2). interchangeably, and have commonalities, selves and their diverse students, help them
their meanings differ subtly. A comprehen- understand why the past three decades have
Why Engage in Conversations sive resource for exploring this discussion been immersed in a more comfortable
About Race? further can be found at the PBS-sponsored color-blind discourse, and facilitate exam-
Understanding of the Meaning of Race. Race website, RACE-The Power of an Illusion ining the racial achievement gap among
is often defined as a controversial concept (www.pbs.org/race). students as an educational consequence of
grounded in the idea that a group within the In an effort to understand issues of race, it pretending race does not exist.
human population is considered distinct is important that race be distinguished from Understanding Diverse Learners. The student
based on physical characteristics. Although ethnicity and culture because understanding population is rapidly becoming more diverse.
historically race was thought to be a race as a concept is a key component of According to the U.S. Census Bureau News
biological difference, today it is generally understanding how racism is "a system of (2008), "Minorities, [are] now roughly
agreed that race is socially constructed— advantages based on race" (Tatum, 1997, p. one-third of the U.S. population, [and] are
a phenomenon invented by our society 7). Using terms that only emphasize ethnicity expected to become the majority in 2042....
(Omi & Winant, 2007). Sadker, Sadker, and or culture conceals the issue of racism in our By 2023, minorities will comprise more than
Zittleman (2008) distinguish between race, society and how the meaning of race and half of all children" (para. 2). Additionally,
ethnicity, and culture. They define race as a racism changes over time (Nieto & Bode, the Multiracial population is projected to be
"group of individuals sharing common 2008; Omi & Winant, 2007). the fastest growing population in the US and
genetic attributes, physical appearance, and their numbers are expected to more than
ancestry" (p. 68). Race is considered a Class discussions about racial issues can be
triple by 2050. However, even as the US
physical attribute that cannot be altered, such difticult. Many people, regardless of their
rapidly becomes more diverse, only 6.7% of
as the color of one's skin. They distinguish race, would rather not talk about race or
the 3.8 million teachers in public schools are
race from ethnicity, defining ethnicity as racial issues. This is partly due to the fact that
Black (NCES, 2009). Latino/Hispanic
"shared common cultural traits, such as discussions about race can be uncomfortable,
teachers make up 6.9% and 1.3% are Asian.
language, religion, and dress" (p. 68). create anxiety, and sometimes result in
Only 0.5% of teachers are American Indian
Ethnicity does not describe one's skin color, conflict. Additionally, many individuals have
and Native Alaskans and 0.9% identified as
but rather a particular group's common belief been taught that in polite society, it is not
Multiracial teachers.
systems and customs. This is closely linked to okay to acknowledge diiference (Marx,
culture, which is defined as "a set of learned 2006). This color-blind socialization process This shortage of diverse teacher role
beliefs, values, and behaviors, a way of life wrongly positions race-consciousness as models is compounded by a myriad of
shaped by members of a society" (p. 68). equivalent to racism and further complicates research which supports the notion that
Race, ethnicity, and culture are all related to teachers' understanding of the important role many White preservice teachers are not
Propriospect or one's personal culture that race plays in the lives of their diverse adequately prepared, culturally competent or
September2012/ART EDUCATiON 51
ability of some ethnic groups, like those from
Italy and Ireland, to transition into
Whiteness, while others are denied such
access. She covered the entire image with
drips of white paint symbolizing how
saturated our society is with Whiteness.
In Brittany's piece she explored racial
stereotypes by creating a book (see Figure 5).
She examined how society first assigns
individuals to different racial categories
based on physical appearances and then uses
that grouping to create stereotypes about the
individuals within a particular group. She
explained that when we initially meet
Figure 4. Stevie's collage visually problematizes someone, one of the first things we notice is
Whiteness. skin color and too often this one physical
attribute is used to define someone. She
symbolized this idea by using phrases cut
and pasted throughout the book. For
Figure 7. John's clay sculpture represents his
example, one set of pages is titled, "you are understanding of invisible race privilege.
BLACK if you look like this," while another
set reads, "you are HISPANIC if you look like the other races below it. In contrast, the head
this." The images of different racial groups at the bottom of the sculpture has its mouth
that cover one side of the pages in the book open in protest as it bears the weight of the
aim to highlight how society tends to other two heads on top of it. John also
stereotypically group people based on their pointed out that the clay head located in the
race. Opposite these images, Brittany covered middle has a mouth, giving it the ability to
a list of common stereotypes associated with protest, but it chooses to keep it closed,
that particular racial group under a thin veil refiecting a complacency with being neither
of tissue paper (see Figure 6). She marked on top nor on the bottom of the racial
each stereotype with an asterisk, symbolizing hierarchy. He explained that each of the clay
the importance our society places on heads is affected by and connected to the
properly categorizing, labeling, and stereo- other. All of the clay heads have eyes allowing
Figure 5. Brittany's collaged book explores stereotypes.
typing individuals. She explained that listing them to see the injustice of the situation,
these stereotypes under a thin layer of tissue although only the race on the bottom uses its
paper symbolized our society's acknowledge- voice in protest.
ment of their existence and its simultaneous
need to pretend as if we don't see and believe This artmaking experience facilitated
them. students exploring the topic of race in a way
that was both personal and meaningful. Art
John chose to express his understanding of as another way of knowing allowed these
invisible race privilege in the form of a clay preservice teachers to move outside their
sculpture (see Figure 7). He hand built clay comfort zones, take risks, and learn to view
heads, stacking one on top of another as a the world through multiple frames of
way of symbolizing the different racial reference. Through artmaking these future art
groupings in America and the hierarchy that teachers visually engaged with the complex
each racial group holds in our society. He issues of race and demonstrated that creative
described the meaning behind the different expression linked to emotions, fosters
expressions on each head's face. The top head transformative learning. Brittany's book
has no mouth, symbolizing a desire by those illustrates an astute understanding of the
Figure 6. Detail of Brittany's book. at the top of the racial hierarchy not to talk impact stereotypes have on our perceptions of
about race and race privilege. This mouth- others, while Stevie's artwork visually
less head symbolizes a lack of protest and expresses a developing, yet studied under-
contentment with its higher positioning in standing of White privilege and the role it
society, resting comfortably on the heads of plays in the dynamic between self and other.
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