DOCTORAL THESIS Teaching Cultural Heritage through Craft in Kuwaiti Primary Schools for Girls Malajmi, Fatema Award date: 2013 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 03. Oct. 2021 Teaching Cultural Heritage through Craft in Kuwaiti Primary Schools for Girls By Fatema MAlajmi, BA, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD School of Education University of Roehampton 2013 ABSTRACT Students in Kuwait are not taught art history in schools and know very little about their cultural heritage. This study developed a formal curriculum unit which introduced a traditional women’s craft into the art curriculum for girls in Kuwait. The aim was to use art history to increase their understanding of their cultural heritage and of their female identities and roles in society. The action research methodology involved collaboration with three local primary art teachers, a professional weaver and a Kuwaiti education expert. The actions, in order, were: researching art education theory, policy and practice; researching and developing curriculum content (Alsadu artefacts); designing an experimental curriculum unit and teaching materials; implementing the unit in a school and evaluating it formatively; then refining the curriculum materials and revising and modifying aspects of the model. The curriculum was then implemented again and summatively evaluated before the research questions were answered. Key findings were as follows: first, art history as such cannot be introduced into art education in Kuwait yet, because there is no expertise in this field and it is not an established discipline; second the Year Five Art curriculum can, however, accommodate the Western theory and practice of art heritage and cultural education by focusing on Bedouin culture and including a traditional women’s craft; third, because Kuwait society deals with gender issues differently, Western theories about women and crafts have to be modified before they can be transferred. Thus, the research ended by recommending educational policy makers to promote cultural learning instead of art history, through i school trips to museums in particular. Because the action research methodology worked so well in this curriculum experiment, educational policy makers are recommended to apply it more widely in schools. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Rachel Mason, for all her help and encouragement. She held me by the hand during this study. Without her help, it would not have been possible to carry out this project. No words can express my appreciation for all the time and effort she has given. Many thanks go to my second supervisor, Dr James Hall, who also helped to develop my thinking during this study. Many thanks too to Dr Abdullah AlHaddad, for his support for the part of the research in Kuwait. I would like to thank the art teachers and the weavers who participated and helped me to succeed in this research. I would also like to thank the Alsadu House Museum staff and the schools, who welcomed me into their facilities. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my husband and children, who supported me during my study. I am indebted to them for their patience and commitment to family while I was pursuing this postgraduate dream. All my love goes to them. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my father, who died during my studies in Britain and had gone before I could bid him a final farewell. How I would have liked to dedicate this thesis to him in person when he was alive, and see his customary big smile. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF DIAGRAMS LIST OFAPPENDICES Table of Contents ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... i INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 0.1.1. Society in Kuwait ................................................................................................... 2 0.1.2. Art in Kuwait ......................................................................................................... 4 0.1.3. Art Education in Kuwait ........................................................................................ 5 0.2. Problem statement ..................................................................................................... 6 0.2.1. Teaching Art History.............................................................................................. 7 0.3. Research Question ..................................................................................................... 9 0.4. Significance of the study ........................................................................................... 9 0.5. Organisation of the thesis ........................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER ONE: ART HISTORY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE ............................... 13 1.0 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 13 1. 1 Art History and reasons for teaching it ................................................................... 14 1.1.1 Definitions of Art History ..................................................................................... 14 1.1.2 Recent Developments in Art History .................................................................... 20 1.2. Reasons for Teaching Art History........................................................................... 22 iv 1.2.1. Learning about humanity ..................................................................................... 23 1.2.2. Building knowledge about artworks in the past ................................................... 25 1.2.1.3. Learning about culture ...................................................................................... 27 1.3. Understanding cultural heritage .............................................................................. 31 1.3.1. Definitions ............................................................................................................ 32 1.3.2. Tangible and intangible heritage .......................................................................... 34 1.3.3. The absence of research intocultural heritage in Kuwait ..................................... 37 1.3.4. Teaching about cultural heritage in schools ......................................................... 38 1.3.5. Aims for teaching cultural heritage ...................................................................... 40 1.3.6. Potential Contribution of Art to Cultural Education ............................................ 42 Summary of Findings ..................................................................................................... 43 CHAPTER TWO: DEVELOPING A CURRICULUM MODEL ..................................... 45 2.0. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 45 2.1. Curriculum Models for Teaching Art History ........................................................ 45 2.1.1. Chapman .............................................................................................................. 45 2.1.2. Hickman ............................................................................................................... 48 2.1.3. Erickson ............................................................................................................... 51 2.3. Aims and objectives for teaching cultural heritage ................................................. 53 2.4. Crafts/Artefact based content .................................................................................. 54 2.5. Teaching/learning strategies.................................................................................... 56 i. Questioning enquiry ................................................................................................ 57 ii. Craft making............................................................................................................ 59 iii. Visiting museums ................................................................................................ 61 iv. Using sketchbooks ............................................................................................... 64 2.6. Framework for teaching art history in Kuwait ........................................................ 66 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................... 69 3.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................