The chapter entitled, “Students’ Cultural Images as Catalysts for Critical Inquiry” in ReVisions discusses an in depth unit on analyzing and creating cultural images with secondary students. This chapter raised several questions about how to make this project work in the classroom. It heavily emphasizes the importance of studying and creating art works based on cultural/ethnic backgrounds, as a means for individuals to understand their own culture and educate others. It seems to me that centering the project content and output might be extremely rich and meaningful for some but more difficult and alienating for others.
It mentions that many “Anglophone” students had a lot to learn from the resulting images of this project, but does not mention how they become involved in creating their own images based on their cultural identity. How do you navigate this project with students who might not be able to identify their cultural background? These “anglophone” students might not know or have an unidentifiable mix of backgrounds that would make even beginning this project difficult for them.
This project reminded me of an experience volunteering in a grade 9 ceramics class, where the project was to create an identity mask. The goal of the mask project was to discuss something that you would like to reveal to the world or something you hide. We discussed cultural heritage as an optional direction for this project, but also discussed many other emotional and conceptual options for students. The result was a pretty even mix of those who wanted to explore their cultural identity through the mask and those who explored a symbolic or emotional aspect of their identity. We still learned about each other’s cultures and personalities, and nobody was left out by a project that was solely based on cultural background. It seems to me that this is more inclusive approach to exploring the concept of identity in the classroom.
