Teaching Art in the Context of Culture: A Study in the Borderlands

Abstract

The first part of this paper identifies four confusions in conceptualizing diversity in the curriculum: the misidentification of what constitutes diversity, studying a cultural artifact from the perspective of mainstream culture or solely our own values, homogenizing cultures, and exoticizing or fetishizing cultures. The second part of the paper suggests that the study of cultures other than our own be approached for the formation of a border consciousness. As described, this is a longitudinal process that involves learning about the history, language, stories, images, politics, spirituality, and life experiences of persons in the culture studied as well as an assimilation of the culture so that it becomes part of the student's way of thinking and valuing.