Conference Proceedings 2010 [pdf] - Art & Design Symposium ...

Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, and Gurin (2002) have argued that attending an ethnically diverse public school or
university does not necessarily guarantee meaningful interracial interaction that can help students overcome
racial and ethnic prejudices and stereotypes. Instead, they propose facilitating informal interaction among
different racial and ethnic groups of people in students’ college life. This frequent and qualitative group
interaction, which extends beyond structured classroom settings, could promote the breaking of deep-rooted
social boundaries that have traditionally worked against the fostering of equality and diversity. They believe
that through various activities between “intergroups”, such as campus-sponsored events, daily interactions in
dormitories, occasional social meetings, or club activities, students can potentially make meaningful interracial
and interethnic connections. This type of intergroup diversity is critical to college students who will serve
important roles in the workforce of tomorrow and in creating a more diversified, global environment that
encourages the cooperation of different groups of people. More critically, pre-service educators who will teach
children and serve as role models in public schools and other educational settings will need to realize the
significance of recognizing and gaining experience in the development of positive interracial or interethnic
relationships for themselves and their future students.
The lack of interethnic interactions and meetings is very common among pre-service teachers in my art
education class at the University of Arizona. I have witnessed this first-hand when they share their
autobiographies as an assignment in the first week of the class. As a teacher/educator and minority group
member, I feel a strong need to help my students gain valuable experience working with individuals or groups
of people with whom they have not associated in their daily contacts and social group settings. Overcoming
their fear of people from other ethnic groups, learning to value other’s art and culture, and finding similarity and
respecting differences among groups of people, are some main goals of this project, which promotes the
studying of ethnic objects and meeting and forming a lasting bond with another, distinct ethnic group or person.
It is also intended to help students break out of their social comfort zone and develop positive interethnic
relationships with others.
Exploring Ethnic Objects and Conducting Participant Interviews
Many scholars have noted that facilitating interethnic or interracial interaction is a significant educational goal
(P. Gurin, Dey, Hurtado, & G. Gurin, 2002; Levin, Van Laar, & Sidanius, 2003; Tatum, 2000). If a lack of
contact between people of different races serves as a significant cause of prejudices, stereotyping, and
discrimination, one correction is to create an increased intergroup interaction among diverse groups of people
(Rodenborg & Huynh, 2006). I believe that studying the art of a group of people provides a greater means for
positive interaction with that group, and helps to understand them because art is an essence and highlight of
cultural production. It is also important for pre-service teachers to see that cultural objects found in the
community can potentially serve as their future educational resources, thus, allowing them to move beyond the
limitation of fine arts education as it currently appears in textbooks. In this context, I asked them to conduct
research on an ethnic object in their community from a culture other than that of their own origin or
background.
They were invited to look for images and objects as reflections of human expression, such as toys, symbols,
tools, art and crafts, decorative objects, or cultural performances, which were the products of other ethnic
groups of people but were easily accessible in the local community. First, they were instructed to ask someone
from the chosen object’s ethnic group of origin to assist them in studying the history and tradition of the object
and in exploring why the object was made, sold, and bought as well as its function and usage. In this project,
my emphasis was on what they might learn through direct contact with unfamiliar groups of people, and
through seeing how their interviewees see and accept those objects or cultural practices. I encouraged them to
carry a picture of the object with them during the research period and to make contact with other members of
the ethnic group from which it originated. Students also were allowed to take advantage of technologies such
as blogs, Skype, or ethnic web sites for diverse cross-cultural communication. However, as a caution to
excessive dependence on technology, I discouraged them from depending solely on Wikipedia and Google
searches that might keep the students from face-to-face, cross-cultural meetings and interactions.
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