Visualizing the Betweens: Drawing Intersectional Discrimination Dialogues with Teenagers by letbal

This article shows how drawing can be used to discuss intersectional discrimination in a multicultural middle school. It reflects on the rhizomatic entanglements of conducting research through arts methodologies and applying design processes to develop an anti-racist art curriculum for middle school. To do this, I used a/r/tography to navigate a research diagram in which drawings from my students are used as valuable data to reflect and analyze the curriculum, my praxis, and multiple roles. I praised the importance of using drawing with seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth-grade students as a visual thinking process in multicultural school environments to discuss and address all forms of discrimination. Applying principles of a/rt/ography, I documented their process journals while weaving them with the research diagram and theory. I also reflect on the international-mindedness mission statement from the International Baccalaureate in connection to the neo-liberalization and misconception of what global education is and how it is being practiced. I suggest that drawing as a performative research tool can produce non-verbal expressions leading to other ways of knowing relevant information for the artographer and students. This knowledge production is relevant to students’ live experiences regarding the intersections between social and political issues. However, more pedagogical approaches have to be developed to continue reinforcing the connections between social issues and climate change.

I suggest that the geopolitical context of the school will determine not just the student population but also the power position of the administration and teachers. The problem is that overlooking discrimination issues contradicts the International Baccalaureate mission statement as well as any other multicultural school. I further explained this in What Does it Mean to Teach About Intersectional Discrimination in a Multicultural Middle School Art Class? (A White Immigrant Art Teacher’s Perspective) (Balzi, 2023). Re-thinking the art curriculum is a step to shape ethical spaces in art education at schools.

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