Abstract
Can arts education promote national awareness and appreciation of cultural diversity at the same time, or is the concept of national identity fundamentally at odds with the concepts of cultural diversity and pluralism? This controversial topic is explored from the perspective of arts education experts, using data from two worldwide surveys among experts as part of the Monitoring Arts Education Systems project in 2016 (MONAES), and from an additional survey held among European arts education experts in 2018. Expected benefits of arts education for the appreciation of cultural diversity seem to have been incorporated in the value system of the international arts education community. In contrast, promoting national awareness is not highly valued by most arts education experts. Further analysis identified differences in the experts’ personal understandings across global regions and selected countries. Results of the additional survey indicated that European experts think very favorably of cultural diversity but that they disagree among themselves about the compatibility of promoting appreciation of cultural diversity and national awareness. Two opposing strategies are suggested to cope with the challenges of cultural diversity and national identity in arts education practice: one inspired by liberal nationalism, the other by postcolonial theory.
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Notes
- 1.
The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001) was the first official UNESCO document on cultural diversity. It laid the general policy foundations for the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). UNESCO declarations are a “means of defining norms, which are not subject to ratification” by Member States. Conventions “are subject to ratification, acceptance or accession by States. They define rules with which the States undertake to comply.” (General introduction to the standard-setting instruments of UNESCO).
- 2.
This article is an extended and substantially revised version of an article by IJdens and Zernitz that was published in the first Yearbook of the European Network of Observatories in the Field of Arts and Cultural Education (ENO), edited by LĂgia Ferro, Ernst Wagner et al. (2019).
- 3.
Part of the data from this additional survey was presented in IJdens and Zernitz (2019): see footnote 2.
- 4.
Northern European countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden. Western European countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom. Eastern Europe countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia. Southern European countries: Portugal, Spain.
- 5.
Disagreement that it is important in practice: 15/56 Western Europe, 2/11 Northern Europe, 6/10 Southern Europe, 7/10 Eastern Europe. Disagreement that it is important in policy: 13/56 Western, 1/11 Northern, 5/10 Southern, 5/10 Eastern Europe.
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IJdens, T. (2019). Promoting National Awareness and Appreciation of Cultural Diversity Through Arts Education: Compatible Goals?. In: Lum, CH., Wagner, E. (eds) Arts Education and Cultural Diversity. Yearbook of Arts Education Research for Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development, vol 1. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8004-4_20
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