In/Art: an Inquiry Into Cultural Framing for the Twenty-First Century Evelyn Armstrong IDSVA
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Maine State Library Maine State Documents Academic Research and Dissertations Special Collections 2013 In/Art: An Inquiry into Cultural Framing for the Twenty-first Century Evelyn Armstrong IDSVA Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalmaine.com/academic Recommended Citation Armstrong, Evelyn, "In/Art: An Inquiry into Cultural Framing for the Twenty-first Century" (2013). Academic Research and Dissertations. Book 14. http://digitalmaine.com/academic/14 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections at Maine State Documents. It has been accepted for inclusion in Academic Research and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Maine State Documents. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Armstrong IN/ART AN INQUIRY INTO CULTURAL FRAMING FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY By Evelyn Ann Armstrong A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy, Aesthetics and Art Theory Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts Portland, ME July 2012 i Armstrong Accepted by the faculty of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts in partial fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ______________________________ Dissertation Director’s Name, Ph.D. Doctoral Committee Dr. George Smith Dr. Denise Carvalho July 3, 2012 ii Armstrong © 2012 Evelyn Ann Armstrong ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii Armstrong That lyf so short, the craft so long to learne, Th'assay so hard, so sharp the conquerynge. ⎯Geoffery Chaucer The Parliament of Fowls 1.I; cf Hippocrates (Elizabeth Knowles, ed., The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 5th edition Oxford: Oxford University Press, 206 28). To George i Armstrong ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee, especially Dr. Denise Carvalho for taking the time and effort to contribute her valuable expertise towards my research. I would also like to thank Dr. George Smith from his insights and encouragement. When the future looked dim, Amy Curtis and Amy Cook offered encouragement and support. I would also like to thank Kim Leclair, Susan Norgaard, Anne Pang, Daphne Randall, Lauren Johnson, and Mary Longman. I greatly appreciate their feedback and support, which has inspired me to keep going with strong spirit. Last but certainly not least, I would like to thank my life long partner George, who has brought tremendous joy, hope, tenacity and frustration to my life as well as overwhelming loyalty and help. As I pursued an academic career, George is always here to look after me and by the way, he is a great cook. ii Armstrong ABSTRACT Evelyn Ann Armstrong AN INQUIRY INTO CULTURAL FRAMING FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY My goal is to investigate the role of culture in the formation of knowledge and its relation to politics of history. I depart from the specific historical accounts of nation building in Canada, striving to demonstrate some of the ways in which different lines of inquiry are skewed from entering the bulk of the episteme that guides political praxis and its function in culture and society. I also critically underline how governmental policies justify spending on arts’ grants, while dismissing specific cultural information and everyday practices that affect the underwriting of policies and the distribution of economic funds. For my research, I seek examples in the production of culture that sustain ideas if freedom, equality, and social justice, giving voice to minorities throughout history. I draw attention to the culture of Canada’s Aboriginal communities that interconnect current and universal relations of time and space through folklore and societal function, exemplified by art practices, documentary film making, and story telling. This urges us to rethink the way we record, validate, and define knowledge, and how knowledge is transformed into political policies that sustain injustice in a government that claims itself just. iii Armstrong THESIS STATEMENT The aim of this inquiry is to investigate everyday practices and beliefs that quantify less inclusive forms of knowledge. In arguing for dialogical ethics as a strategy that challenges essentialist feminist views and theories that mark women and minorities as “secondary sociological” and “anthropological universals,” I root my theoretical framework in the intersection between art and film practices in light of postcolonial and post-feminist theory. A pluralist political framework, following Chantal Mouffe’s interpretation of Antonio Gramsci’s political theory, supports an inquiry into inclusive communities with a focus on accountability in the struggle for justice of minorities, their rights to cultural specificity and inclusion. In a similar fashion, Paulo Freire’s theoretical model of a dialogical pedagogy offers the necessary validation for the sharing of knowledge. As I seek to raise cultural and socio-political awareness in a changing world, I support my research by a transdisciplinary methodology, proposed by Griselda Pollock, which is capable of addressing diverse theories and practices. As I seek art concepts and practices that might address political efficiency, in both culturally specific and experimentally inclusive approaches, I demonstrate how art becomes an evidence of agency in the articulation of socio- political injustices and inequalities among minority groups and Canadian Aboriginal women and men. Acting on the belief that contemporary art is an encompassing borderless language, and that as so, it draws from and speaks to philosophy and theory, I iv Armstrong posit that in the process of understanding ourselves in the world, we depend on the liberating aesthetic ability of an open cultural dialogue that allows us to think creatively and critically. Moreover, in its capacity as a carrier of experience, I believe that the power of critical arts guides us in understanding the role of compassion and justice in our social system. In addition, from Val Plumwood’s belief in the “environment as culture,” I draw support for a dialogical ethics capable of rejecting an essentialist account of nature. In light of sociopolitical injustices and imperiled ecological systems, the discussions of art in this dissertation focus on strategies of intervention and engagement that pay attention to minority women and men, as well as ecological groups working to connect issues across time and cultures, affirming the need for a world rooted on ethical and ecological awareness. v Armstrong TABLE OF CONTENTS EPIGRAM .............................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... iii THESIS STATEMENT ....................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... vi DESCRIBING THE INQUIRY INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE The impetus for the Inquiry: Concerning Basic Human Rights .................. 10 Postcolonial influences before and after globalization ............................... 19 Pedagogy, literacy, and multicultural teaching ........................................... 24 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER TWO Political Culture .......................................................................................... 27 The North: Apart from sentiment and toward settlement .......................... 57 Signifying practices that shape and divide cultural understanding ............. 63 Sovereignty: The nation-state and Indigenous autonomy .......................... 70 British Loyalty: Indigenous Nationalism ................................................... 84 William Blake’s world view: Freedom is expression ................................. 94 Aesthetic values and oral histories ............................................................. 98 Conceptual and political goals: Good government and the Canadian Confederation ........................................................................... 103 The legacy: Colonial federalism and Canadian confederation ................ 114 Imperialism: Monumental art in honor of nation building ...................... 117 The Canadian constitution: Human rights and social equality ................ 135 Fulfilling the goals of confederation ......................................................... 140 The constitution effort: Reform and the charter of rights and freedoms .. 143 The liberal defense: Equality and freedom of expression ......................... 152 vi Armstrong Funding for the arts and changes in higher education ............................. 162 Royal Commissions: Domestic Decisions ................................................ 171 Documentary film making and social change ........................................... 174 Democracy in action: Government policy and the political state ............. 202 Process and substance: the charter text with rights protection .................. 217 After the constitution: the concept of Aboriginal self-government ……...235 Federal-provincial Conference of First Ministers on Aboriginal Constitution Matters continued .....................................................................................