This section provides quotes from scholarly articles that may spark an idea, or act as a remembrance of a concept when referring back to it. It is important to note which scholars are influential to critical multicultural teaching in the classroom.
"How much does it matter if a child cannot identify ethnically or racially with a teacher? Does it matter at all? If the teacher accepts him and likes him as he really is, isn't that enough?" (Paley, White Teacher, 35)
"Critical care- responding to students' personal lives and to institutional barriers they encounter as members of radicalized groups." (Pollack, Everyday Antiracism, 30)
"Ewald developed an innovative way of making pictures. Her collaboration with children shares control over the process of visually representing children’s lives, their stories, their faces." (Katherine Hyde, Portraits and collaborations)
"I have created situations in which I allowed other perceptions to surface with my own." (Wendy Ewald)
“It is not clear who is the teacher and who is the student” -Adam Weinberg & Urs Stahal, curators of the Ewald 30 year retrospective
“Ewald provides the impetus, the framework, the vehicle for the students ideas, expressions and thoughts.” -Weinberg & Stahal
"Ewald speaks with children "like they are her peers... (and she) challenges them to arrive at solutions on their own. She's willing to sit there and act as a foil and talk it out. But she's not going to pop out this little fortune cookie answer for them."
-Dwayne Dixon (Katherine Hyde, Portraits and collaborations)
“For those of us who work here as artists, we find ourselves greeted, spoken to, by these children, startled at not having begun the conversation ourselves. Wendy operates in an invisible way in this play of voices. I am struck by the sense in which she acts behind the scenes as a kind of probe and conduit, and I felt amazed to see how she could show me things I’ve never seen, or even thought about, in the city I’ve lived in for 20 years. She makes visible a hidden ethos….” -Artist, Elizabeth King
"In our society, it is assumed that there are only two genders, both of which come with very specific expectations and roles. I aim to challenge that assumption by portraying people whose identity falls outside of these preconceived notions. Transcendence is a collection of portraits within the transgender and gender-variant community. These photographs show that there are an endless number of gender identities, specific to each person, while illustrating that gender identity and biological sex are two distinct constructs. More broadly, they call into question societal expectations about gender roles and how these expectations affect everyone, including those who are not a part of the transgender community." -Jess Dugan
(Kim Cosier, Framing Identity, 398)
“There is a strong tendency for teachers to continue speaking in the language of scientific certainty when discussing the symbolic meanings of colors… there is no anthropological or biological evidence which confirms the universal validity of commonly taught color symbolism.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
“Thus, unexamined and unchallenged assumptions about the normalcy of color associations about the normalcy of color associations become a vehicle for reinscribing racially charged symbolism into current consciousness.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
“Teachers who ignore the obvious racial implications of the language of color in our race-conscious society, risk inadvertently teaching students that the language of art and symbolism taught in the artroom is not relevant to their lived experiences.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
“By showing that this is culturally constructed meaning, art teachers model that such meaning can also be culturally deconstructed.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
"The police and youth have written questions on blue slips of paper, and these are now being inscribed on butcher paper pinned to a nearby wall or balanced on a portable easel. Among the youth questions are: 'Why do police talk to young adults disrespectfully? Why do you feel you automatically deserve respect when not giving it back to youth? When you put on the badge do you feel it gives you power, or are you working as an agent of the community? How do you handle a mistaken I.D.? and Why don't police believe us?' Among the police questions are: 'Why do young people lack respect for police? What do you think a police officer's job is? How can the police better help youth in Oakland? Why do certain youths continue to hang out with friends that they know are committing crimes? and Why do you think we become cops anyway?" (Moira Roth, Suzanne Lacy, Julio Morales, Unique Holland, Making and Performing "Code 33:" A Public Art Project with Suzanne Lacy, Julio Morales, and Unique Holland, 8)
"I didn't realize that this was a form of activism. Growing up, I always thought of activists as uprising, protests, sit-ins, speeches, marches -- as determined, furrowed brows casting shadows in the sunlight, and gleams of torches in the night. Activism in my head was revolutionary and radical and nothing less. I was ashamed because I didn't know if I had it in me to risk my body and my life...when I realized that my artwork could have a different type of impact, I became inspired to learn about the art of activism rather than the act of it." (Cheyenne T, Meet The Teens Using Intersectional Art As Feminist Activism)
"In public education today, we are faced with three interconnected realities: (1) the majority of teachers are white, middle class, female; (2) our student body is racially diverse and the rapidly changing demographics point to an increase in students of color; and (3) students of color are more at risk of failing in our schools. This new reality suggests that art teacher education needs to directly address racial inequality." (Dipti Desai, The Challenge of New Colorblind Racism In Art Education).
"According to Claire Pajaczkowska, the belief in a true inner self is 'liberal humanism,' where 'answers to the question of what it is to be human [are] phrased in terms of philosophical concepts such as 'self-knowledge,' 'consciousness,' and 'thought,' which emphasize the significance of self rather than the significance of division." (Identity, Jean Robertson and Craig McDaniel)
"Critical care- responding to students' personal lives and to institutional barriers they encounter as members of radicalized groups." (Pollack, Everyday Antiracism, 30)
"Ewald developed an innovative way of making pictures. Her collaboration with children shares control over the process of visually representing children’s lives, their stories, their faces." (Katherine Hyde, Portraits and collaborations)
"I have created situations in which I allowed other perceptions to surface with my own." (Wendy Ewald)
“It is not clear who is the teacher and who is the student” -Adam Weinberg & Urs Stahal, curators of the Ewald 30 year retrospective
“Ewald provides the impetus, the framework, the vehicle for the students ideas, expressions and thoughts.” -Weinberg & Stahal
"Ewald speaks with children "like they are her peers... (and she) challenges them to arrive at solutions on their own. She's willing to sit there and act as a foil and talk it out. But she's not going to pop out this little fortune cookie answer for them."
-Dwayne Dixon (Katherine Hyde, Portraits and collaborations)
“For those of us who work here as artists, we find ourselves greeted, spoken to, by these children, startled at not having begun the conversation ourselves. Wendy operates in an invisible way in this play of voices. I am struck by the sense in which she acts behind the scenes as a kind of probe and conduit, and I felt amazed to see how she could show me things I’ve never seen, or even thought about, in the city I’ve lived in for 20 years. She makes visible a hidden ethos….” -Artist, Elizabeth King
"In our society, it is assumed that there are only two genders, both of which come with very specific expectations and roles. I aim to challenge that assumption by portraying people whose identity falls outside of these preconceived notions. Transcendence is a collection of portraits within the transgender and gender-variant community. These photographs show that there are an endless number of gender identities, specific to each person, while illustrating that gender identity and biological sex are two distinct constructs. More broadly, they call into question societal expectations about gender roles and how these expectations affect everyone, including those who are not a part of the transgender community." -Jess Dugan
(Kim Cosier, Framing Identity, 398)
“There is a strong tendency for teachers to continue speaking in the language of scientific certainty when discussing the symbolic meanings of colors… there is no anthropological or biological evidence which confirms the universal validity of commonly taught color symbolism.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
“Thus, unexamined and unchallenged assumptions about the normalcy of color associations about the normalcy of color associations become a vehicle for reinscribing racially charged symbolism into current consciousness.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
“Teachers who ignore the obvious racial implications of the language of color in our race-conscious society, risk inadvertently teaching students that the language of art and symbolism taught in the artroom is not relevant to their lived experiences.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
“By showing that this is culturally constructed meaning, art teachers model that such meaning can also be culturally deconstructed.” (Olivia Gude, Drawing Color Lines)
"The police and youth have written questions on blue slips of paper, and these are now being inscribed on butcher paper pinned to a nearby wall or balanced on a portable easel. Among the youth questions are: 'Why do police talk to young adults disrespectfully? Why do you feel you automatically deserve respect when not giving it back to youth? When you put on the badge do you feel it gives you power, or are you working as an agent of the community? How do you handle a mistaken I.D.? and Why don't police believe us?' Among the police questions are: 'Why do young people lack respect for police? What do you think a police officer's job is? How can the police better help youth in Oakland? Why do certain youths continue to hang out with friends that they know are committing crimes? and Why do you think we become cops anyway?" (Moira Roth, Suzanne Lacy, Julio Morales, Unique Holland, Making and Performing "Code 33:" A Public Art Project with Suzanne Lacy, Julio Morales, and Unique Holland, 8)
"I didn't realize that this was a form of activism. Growing up, I always thought of activists as uprising, protests, sit-ins, speeches, marches -- as determined, furrowed brows casting shadows in the sunlight, and gleams of torches in the night. Activism in my head was revolutionary and radical and nothing less. I was ashamed because I didn't know if I had it in me to risk my body and my life...when I realized that my artwork could have a different type of impact, I became inspired to learn about the art of activism rather than the act of it." (Cheyenne T, Meet The Teens Using Intersectional Art As Feminist Activism)
"In public education today, we are faced with three interconnected realities: (1) the majority of teachers are white, middle class, female; (2) our student body is racially diverse and the rapidly changing demographics point to an increase in students of color; and (3) students of color are more at risk of failing in our schools. This new reality suggests that art teacher education needs to directly address racial inequality." (Dipti Desai, The Challenge of New Colorblind Racism In Art Education).
"According to Claire Pajaczkowska, the belief in a true inner self is 'liberal humanism,' where 'answers to the question of what it is to be human [are] phrased in terms of philosophical concepts such as 'self-knowledge,' 'consciousness,' and 'thought,' which emphasize the significance of self rather than the significance of division." (Identity, Jean Robertson and Craig McDaniel)