A Culture Among the Teachers: The White Habitus of Elementary Art

Abstract

This ethnographic case study asks how White elementary art educators address cultures other than their own and how race and Whiteness operate in their curriculum work. This research involved three phases, where the researcher moved from observing teachers’ multicultural curriculum work to guiding critical reflection, and finally to collaboratively writing a critical curriculum that teachers then enacted. Findings suggest that teachers’ sociocultural knowledge shapes their teaching philosophies, often in dysconscious and embodied ways. Findings also suggest the habitus of art education has reinforced the notion of the arts as White property. This ideology was part of art education culture, norms, and behaviors embedded in both the formal and informal curriculum and maintained by the teachers’ preservice programs, their colleagues, and district leaders. These findings indicate the need for antiracist art education and mentorship preparing teachers to engage in intentional dialogue about race and identity, critically reflect on their curriculum work, and question the habitus.

Acknowledgments

I thank the art teachers who generously participated in this study and my mentors, Amy Kraehe, Keffrelyn Brown, Noah DeLissovoy, Katie Payne, Katie Dawson, Manisha Sharma, Kathy J. Brown, and Tyson Lewis, who pushed my thinking and lit my path. I also acknowledge Kryssi Staikidis and the anonymous reviewers whose questions made this work stronger.

Disclosure Statement

The author reports there are no competing interests to declare.