ARTEDUC 5795: Global Indigenous Arts: Education for Settlers

An introduction to contemporary global Indigenous arts through a self-critique of settler colonialism that combines decolonial arts education theory with a practice of participatory curriculum development.

36990 (UG) 26991 (Grad) | Seminar – Global Indigenous Arts: Education for Settlers, WF 12:45-2:05, 115 Mendenhall Lab; *minor credit only

Indigenous visual artists, filmmakers, poets, and musicians, from the Sámi of Scandinavia and the Mapuche of the Andes, to the Bunun of Taiwan and the Tlingit of Alaska, are creating some of the most compelling and challenging works of art today. Supported by a growing network of Indigenous curators, scholars and educators, Indigenous artists both celebrate and maintain their cultural specificity within a global framework of shared Indigeneity. Yet this flourishing of Indigenous arts takes place within the deeply conflicted historical and political context of settler colonialism, a system that actively erases Indigenous peoples, extracting value from their land and cultural traditions. How, then, can an appreciation for the transformative work of contemporary Indigenous artists be reconciled with the traditional settler position of exploitation and appropriation? This seminar directly grapples with the problematic position of the settler by combining decolonial arts education theory with a practice of participatory curriculum development. We will not only challenge and unlearn entrenched models of arts education, grounded in settler colonial histories and legacies at work in the institutions of the university and the museum, but also co-create a new form of arts education curriculum in dialogue with the generative, constellatory syllabi of Indigenous artist-projects, exhibitions, and educational frameworks.  

Sign up today!