Black Faces, White Voices/White Faces, Black Voices: The Implications of “Race Fail” for Community-Based Arts Education

This article analyzes the ways that a rhetoric of "community" can reproduce the very racial and economic inequalities community-based arts practitioners seek to address in their practice. Based on multi-sited ethnographic data, this article presents three examples of racialized conflict in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Visual arts research 2015-07, Vol.41 (1), p.96-110
Main Author: Chernoff, Carolyn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African American culture
Art education
Art objects
Art teachers
Arts education
Communities
Education
Educational aspects
Murals
Race relations
Social aspects
Teacher education
Teachers
Training
Visual arts
White people
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Summary:This article analyzes the ways that a rhetoric of "community" can reproduce the very racial and economic inequalities community-based arts practitioners seek to address in their practice. Based on multi-sited ethnographic data, this article presents three examples of racialized conflict in community-based art settings to discuss some of the central challenges for predominantly White community-based arts educators as well as formal training programs. The question of how to build classroom community across social difference suggests that silencing dissent or difference in the name of "community" does more harm than good. Deliberate training around power and praxis could help community- based arts educators name and transform lived inequalities in their classrooms and beyond. Best practices include teacher self-education outside of the classroom, and ongoing collaboration with community stakeholders.
ISSN:0736-0770
2151-8009
DOI:10.5406/visuartsrese.41.1.0096