Abstract
The Handbook editors provide a framework for understanding the relationship between the arts and white supremacy in order to examine how racism operates and how racial hierarchies are constructed within the arts in education. The chapter introduces key tenets and concepts of Critical Race Theory, with a particular focus on the notion of whiteness as property. To make the case for understanding the arts as White property, the editors articulate a dual-lensed framework that defines “the arts” as both an inclusive and exclusive category. The editors then provide a guide to the four sections of the Handbook, highlighting various ways in which the chapters expand on the notion of the arts as White property. The chapter concludes with an invitation to scholars and practitioners to engage in research and sustained conversations about the relationship between race, racism, and the arts in education using Critical Race Theory as an orientation.
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- 1.
Hindu dance forms, for instance, can be traced back to 3000 years to the Natya Sastra. African-derived dance forms are usually rooted on a deep connection to the earth, contrary to ballet technique, as described by McCarthy-Brown in Chap. 27.
- 2.
For examples of research which challenges and clarifies the “Mozart Effect,” see Steele, Bass, and Crook (1999), as well as published studies by Kenneth M. Steele found at http://www.appstate.edu/~steelekm/research/Steele.htm (Retrieved August 5, 2017).
- 3.
While the list of examples extends beyond those we have included here, see also chapters in Tavin and Ballengee-Morris (2013), Quinn, Ploof, and Hochtritt (2012), Hutzel, Bastos, and Cosier (2012), Beyerbach and Davis, (2011), Benedict, Schmidt, Spruce, and Woodford (2015) and Young (1990, 2011); as well as peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals.
- 4.
- 5.
See other examples in Dewhurst and Hendrick, Chap. 26.
- 6.
With regard to disciplinary practices, see: for music (Vaugeois, Chap. 3; Hoffman, Chap. 6; Henze & Hall, Chap. 15; Hess, Chap. 19; Wahl, Chap. 29; Mackinlay, Chap. 31); for dance (Kerr-Berry, Chap. 8; Gonye & Moyo, Chap. 9; McCarthy-Brown, Chap. 27; Davis & Phillips-Fein, Chap. 33); for drama and/or theater (Tanner, Chap. 22); for visual art (Wolukau-Wanambwa, Chap. 5; Hardy, Chap. 7; Khan & Asfour, Chap. 11; O’Rourke, Chap. 12; Lewis, Chap. 17; Leake, Chap. 20; Lawton, Chap. 21; Wilson, Chap. 23; Wang, Chap. 24; Dewhurst & Hendrick, Chap. 26; Acuff, Chap. 30; Spillane, Chap. 32); and for visual culture (Kallio-Tavin & Tavin, Chap. 4; Herman & Kraehe, Chap. 13; Rolling, Chap. 14; Ozment, Chap. 16; Reid, Derby, & Cheng, Chap. 28).
- 7.
With regard to contexts, see: in schools, including PreK-16 (Gonye & Moyo, Chap. 9, Henze & Hall, Chap. 15; Hess, Chap. 19; Leake, Chap. 20; Tanner, Chap. 22; Wilson, Chap. 23; Wang, Chap. 24; Wahl, Chap. 29; Davis & Phillips-Fein, Chap. 33), higher education (Kerr-Berry, Chap. 8), and teacher education (Wolukau-Wanambwa, Chap. 5; Lawton, Chap. 21); in museums, studios, and other exhibition spaces (Lewis, Chap. 17; Dewhurst & Hendrick, Chap. 26; McCarthy-Brown, Chap. 27; Spillane, Chap. 32); for media, popular culture, artworks, and cultural production (Kallio-Tavin & Tavin, Chap. 4; Herman & Kraehe, Chap. 13; Rolling, Chap. 14; Reid, Derby, & Cheng, Chap. 28); in community centers and other local and national organizations (Hardy, Chap. 7; Acuff, Chap. 30); cultural institutions, spaces, and sites (Vaugeois, Chap. 3; Ozment, Chap. 16; McCarthy-Brown, Chap. 27); curricula, curriculum documents, and materials (Hoffman, Chap. 6; O’Rourke, Chap. 12; Mackinlay, Chap. 31); and arts publications (Khan & Asfour, Chap. 11).
- 8.
For an empirical illustration of this double gesture, see Gaztambide-Fernández, Nicholls, and Arráiz Matute (2016).
- 9.
- 10.
The positioning of these and other practices within categories is itself part of this second category, grounded in the institutional theory of art, an approach that survives because of its reliance on self-imposed hierarchies of value. For more on the institutional theory of art, see Dickie (1974).
- 11.
While not uniquely North American, the notion of being “whitewashed” points to the process by which certain kinds of cultural artifacts, practices, and even people are symbolically and/or linguistically re-articulated or re-positioned to appear as if they belong to, or are the outcome of, so-called White culture.
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Gaztambide-Fernández, R., Kraehe, A.M., Carpenter, B.S. (2018). The Arts as White Property: An Introduction to Race, Racism, and the Arts in Education. In: Kraehe, A., Gaztambide-Fernández, R., Carpenter II, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Race and the Arts in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65256-6_1
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