![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
Abstract
In this article, two authors revisit qualitative research on art educators’ curriculum work in schools conducted a decade apart. By placing these studies into dialogue, they examine what is said and unsaid to reveal (dis)comforting trends in education. This narrative analysis reveals the permanence of dominant ideologies, the pull of the habitus, and the impact of teacher’s identity and positionality on curriculum and pedagogy. The authors conclude with a series of curricular (dis)comforts as invitations for envisioning and creating futurings that hold the enduring possibility for new paradigms in teaching and learning. Naming and critically reflecting on these (dis)comforts opens possibilities to move beyond the comforts of maintaining a dominant curriculum that upholds racial and class hierarchies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Our use of (dis)comfort is an intentional choice in blurring boundaries of language choice dualities, present in schools. The use of (dis)comfort recognizes the comforts found in school due to White middle- class ideologies and norms that create and maintain these comforts while also embracing the necessities of tensions and discomforts to make change.
2 For the purposes of this paper, when referencing art teachers, as authors we are referring to those who prepare future educators (ex. Faculty in institutions of higher education), K-12 art educators, community art educators, art educators who work in a range of settings, and future art educators.
3 For more descriptions of each school site and student stories see: Pfeiler-Wunder (Citation2010).
4 At the time of the study, the focus on SES was inspired by Annette Lareau’s book “Unequal Childhood: Class, Race, and Family Life.” Discussions during the study on how to include the intersections of race and class are examples of color evasiveness, where as a beginning researcher, I was encouraged to try and focus solely on SES. The lens of SES as a singular marker of identity avoided the tensions of more deeply unpacking the racial tensions, segregation, and unequal access to resources prevalent through the intersection of race and class (among other identities) within the district. No data was collected about the racial makeup of the students at the time of the study.
5 Pseudonyms are used throughout the study.
6 For another analysis of this discussion with more curricular implications see Link (Citation2024a).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Beth Link
Dr. Beth Link is an Assistant Professor of Art Education at the University of North Texas. Her research applies critical theory on race and whiteness to visual art curriculum, enactment, and teacher-identity formation to understand the complex ways teachers bridge difference and tell stories through objects. She is currently coauthoring a book on transformative professional learning in art integration and has published in journals such as Art Education, Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, and Studies in Art Education.
Amy Pfeiler-Wunder
Dr. Amy Pfeiler-Wunder serves as the associate dean for the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Kutztown University. She taught for 15 years in the Department of Art Education, serving as chair and as the master’s in art education coordinator. taught courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs in the Department of Art Education and doctoral courses in transformational teaching and learning in the Department of Secondary Education. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and has over 25 years of experience in PreK-Higher Education art education settings. Her projects are often collaborative, navigating the intersection of narrative inquiry, action research, and cross-pollination of disciplines with keen attention to the impact of professional identity and positionality on the views of learners and curriculum creation. Dr. Pfeiler-Wunder presents her research at regional, national, and international conferences and publishes in both books and peer-reviewed journals.