L~Uli~~(1I1I1I11I1I1I1I111I1I1I1 ' 8701561247 Thesis Abstract
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/ African Caribbean Pupils and Art Education Paul Dash Goldsmiths, University of London Thesis submitted for the degree of Philosophical Doctorate September 2007 ~~L~Uli~~(1I1I1I11I1I1I1I111I1I1I1 ' 8701561247 Thesis Abstract This work looks at the implications for teaching art and design to children of African Caribbean heritage in the British educational system. It is organised in three sections. The first provides the broad rationale for the thesis and includes an analysis of viewpoints on the diasporic state, this instead of a literature review. It asserts that children of African Caribbean and wider diasporic backgrounds are disadvantaged by not being made familiar with material from their cultural heritages. This has come about, I argue, by the enduring effects of the rupture that was the slave trade and the lack of acknowledgement of the significance of the black presence in the West. Consequently, the study contends, diasporic peoples are rendered invisible. The thesis asserts that culture as a context for teaching is fundamental to art and design education. Therefore African Caribbean learners, whose cultural heritages are not seen, are disadvantaged and appear culturally impoverished relative to· others. To substantiate this critical viewpoint, key texts by theorists on diasporic studies are referenced and analysed. These include David Dabydeen, CLR James, Stuart Hall and Kamau Brathwaite. My intention in this first section, therefore, is to throw light on the tensions surrounding the black subject, their lack of a positive presence in the critical and contextual material that children are exposed to and how this tension impacts on the teaching of art. The values disseminated in such pedagogies are central to the enquiry. 2 Section two is dedicated to the presentation of the research findings. Six London-based art and design educationalists that work in environments with high numbers of African Caribbean students are interviewed about the under girding rationale that drives their work. Four of the educationalists are black. This number of black teachers was selected in the expectation that they would have a particularly high commitment to black children's learning, and as such would have experimented with pedagogies that take account of their learning needs. The outcomes are, however, at times very different from what I had anticipated. This element of surprise is fundamental to the research and the analysis of the meanings embedded in such unexpected material is critical to it. One group of six African Caribbean young people from south London was also interviewed. This interview provided an opportunity to garner information from African Caribbean learners on their experience of state education. The short interview with them furnished critical viewpoints that throw light on young people's perceptions of teaching and learning in London schools. The third section presents a theoretical analysis of key points emerging from the data that could have a bearing on African Caribbean student learning in art and design. Finally, the concluding chapter reflects on the findings in the thesis and provides a pointer to their significance for teachers and school pupils. 3 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been written without the guidance and support of Professor Dennis Atkinson, my supervisor. His scholarship, understanding and patience have been invaluable over the years of study. A special thanks also to Tara Page and Jeff Adams, my colleagues on the PGCE Art and Design course at Goldsmiths for their moral and practical support. Many friends at Goldsmiths have made important contributions to this study. I think of various conversations in corridors, stairwells over cups of tea in Loafers, the college refectory, and in other contexts. Knowing how easy it would be to exclude someone by listing names, I shall resist the temptation to do so. They know who they are and I will forever be grateful for their - support. I am also indebted to friends in more distant places. Some sent images while others emailed texts or recommended titles that could support the thesis. I am greatly indebted to them all. Finally I am most indebted to my wife Jean and our children Luke, Nicholas and Rebecca. Jean in particular has had to put up with my selfish ways and long absences. Her support, in second reading this thesis, greatly assisted the editing process. Many thanks. 4 Contents: Thesis Abstract .................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................ 4 Contents: .......................................................................................................... 5 Table of Figures ................................................................................................. 9 Glossary of Terms ............................................................................................ 11 Preface ........................................................................................................... 14 Structure of the thesis ...................................................................................... 15 Section 1 ........................................................................................................ 16 Chapter 1 - Introduction .................................................................................. 18 1.1 The origins of the research .................................................................. 21 1.2 Personal adornment project ................................................................. 23 1.3 The lack of black Caribbean representation ........................................... 26 1.5 The research questions ....................................................................... 31 1.6 Question 1......................................................................................... 31 1.7 Question 2......................................................................................... 33 1.8 Question 3 ......................................................................................... 37 1.9 Summary ........................................................................................... 39 Chapter 2 - The process of gap ......................................................................... 41 2.1 Defining the diasporic presence in the West ................................. .42 2.2 Sub-section 1: Traditions of practice ............................................ .44 2.2.1 A first acquaintance with African traditions of making ................ .45 2.2.2 A visit to the Museum of Mankind ............................................. .46 2.2.3 The Maroons of Surinam ........................................................... 52 2.2.4 Haitian Art ............................................................................... 54 2.2.5 Children's toys ...................... ; .................................................. 56 5 2.2.6 Natchitoches, Louisiana ............................................................ 59 2.2.7 Summary ........................................................................................ 61 2.3 Sub-section 2: Theorising the effects of the rupture; the dialectics of cultural origins, identity and the ontology of diasporic peoples ......................................... 61 2.3.1 Brathwaite and James in dialectical opposition .................................... 62 2.3.2 Summary ........................................................................................ 67 2.4 Sub-Section 3 - Race, Representation and Belonging: the 67 dialectic of the UK Centre ......................................................................... 67 2.4.1 Pollard's photography ...................................................................... 68 2.4.2 Summary ........................................................................................ 78 2.5 'Sub-section 4 - The politics and history of the image of the black body ............ 79 2.5.1 Constructing the boundary ............................................................... 79 2.5.2 Summary ........................................................................................ 88 2.6 Section 4b - The politics and history of the image of the black body ............. 89 2.6.1 Saartjie Baartman ............................................................................ 90 2.6.2 Marxist theorising and the black subject ............................................. 93 2.6.3 David Dabydeen's Hogarth's Blacks ................................................... 95 2.6.4 Albert Boime's Art of Exclusion .......................................................... 98 2.6.5 Marie-Guillelmine Benoist's 'Portrait d'une Negresse' (1800) ............... 105 2.6.6 Summary ...................................................................................... 106 3. Chapter - Multicultural art teaching content and Diaspora ............................. 108 children ........................................................................................................ 108 3.1 Early experiments in multicultural teaching ......................................... 108 3.2 Issues in teaching for liberation ......................................................... 114 3.3 HermeneutiCS, regulation and African Caribbean student learning in art and design ... " ...... " ............................................................................ , .......