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Heritage, Identity and Belonging: African Caribbean Students and Art Education
Author(s) -
Dash Paul
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of art and design education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.312
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1476-8070
pISSN - 1476-8062
DOI - 10.1111/j.1476-8070.2006.00492.x
Subject(s) - mores , mainstream , construct (python library) , identity (music) , sociology , cultural heritage , cultural identity , representation (politics) , anthropology , gender studies , aesthetics , social science , history , political science , art , law , archaeology , politics , negotiation , computer science , programming language
This article addresses the issue of Caribbean cultural under‐representation in school art departments. It argues that diasporic subjects are not seen and their cultures not recognised precisely because their contributions to the way we live are indivisible from the mainstream. This in contradistinction to some groups whose cultures and heritages are relatively distinct and separate from Western mores. Our ways of understanding culture do not take this into account. Yet diasporic contributions to the way we live have buttressed Western lifestyles since the beginning of the slave trade. The article argues that this relationship, characterised by multiple entanglements, must be recognised if Caribbean cultural identities are to be seen and valued. In doing so it challenges the way we construct notions of cultural heritage and belonging, and promotes the adoption of more risk‐taking pedagogies possibly based on contemporary practices.