# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An individual's identity consists of multiple, intersecting factors, including gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. In fact, some prefer to use the plural word "identities," emphasizing that identity is fluid and shifts throughout one's life.

A central aim of the feminist art movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States was to gain recognition for women artists. However, many felt that, during its early years, the feminist art movement privileged white women artists. Cuban-born American artist Ana Mendieta, writing about Howardena Pindell's work, explained: "As women ... came together in the feminist movement with the purpose to end domination and exploitation of the white male culture, they failed to remember us." ¹ The struggle for equality in the art world extended not only to women artists but also to artists of color.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States underwent a period of tumultuous cultural tensions that included the AIDS crisis, right-wing conservative social and economic policies under President Ronald Reagan, rapid gentrification, and increasing urban crime. Identity politics-the political debates around shared cultural characteristics such as race, class, and religion-became a way for people to address these issues. Many artists, such as Glenn Ligon, Deborah Kass, and Lorna Simpson, created work in response to their multifaceted identities, suggesting that the problems society faces are a result of intersecting forms of discrimination toward various social groups.

To explore more, click on each artwork thumbnail, then click again on the larger image that appears in the box above.

Yolanda M. Lopez and Moira Roth. "Social Protest: Racism and Sexism," in Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard, The Power of Feminist Art, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994. p. 155

Art seeking to challenge the dominance of men in both art and society, to gain recognition and equality for women artists, and to question assumptions about womanhood. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, feminist artists used a variety of mediums-including painting, performance art, and crafts historically considered "women's work"-to make work aimed at ending sexism and oppression and exposing femininity to be a masquerade or set of poses adopted by women to conform to societal expectations. While many of the debates inaugurated in these decades are still ongoing, a younger generation of feminist artists takes an approach incorporating intersecting concerns about race, class, forms of privilege, and gender identity and fluidity. Both feminism and feminist art continue to evolve.

The customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.

A representation of oneself made by oneself.

The technique and resulting work of art in which fragments of paper and other materials are arranged and glued to a supporting surface.

The process of creating art that is not representational or based on external reality or nature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An individual's identity consists of multiple, intersecting factors, including gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality. In fact, some prefer to use the plural word "identities," emphasizing that identity is fluid and shifts throughout one's life. A central aim of the feminist art movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States was to gain recognition for women artists.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Creative Time Summit DC | Troubled Democracy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Creative Time Summit DC | Voices of a People's History of the United States

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Uploaded by creativetimenewyork on 2016-11-04.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In his powerful acceptance speech for BET's Humanitarian Award this June, "Grey's Anatomy" actor and activist Jesse Williams made a brief sidenote, reminding white people that "the burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander." This was less than two weeks before the addition of two more black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, to the continuously growing list of POC killed by police. As we process the news of these most recent tragedies, Williams's words help shape what our role-as white allies-needs to be in taking supportive action toward long-overdue change.

According to The Guardian's The Counted, Sterling and Castile's deaths bring this year's fatal encounters by police officers in the United States to 556 - a disproportionate number of those victims, per capita, are black. This week, we've watched a son grieve his dead father and heard a mother recount how, in the moments after her boyfriend was shot during a traffic stop, she was comforted by her brave and empathetic four-year-old daughter. Whether you find yourself awash in fresh outrage or feeling despondent and numb, our responsibility to the black community is to act.

Here's a list of practical, actionable suggestions. Start right now:
1. Have difficult conversations with people you care about-and with ones you don't
That one uncle who "means well" but tells a racist joke at a family get-together. Your old friend from high school you haven't talked to in years but lately is really into posting #AllLivesMatter memes on Facebook. A casual acquaintance you grab happy-hour beers with. The co-worker who sits on the other side of your desk. Start calling them out.

Yes, that means conversations will probably get awkward. Do it anyway. And when you can, choose to engage in discourse that moves discussions forward even when it would be easier or would feel more satisfying to shut down, to become belligerent, to write someone off, or to feel tired. (This is something black people are 100 percent not beholden to do any longer, by the way-this job is solely ours.)

Need guidance for what it means to "collect your people?" Read this.
2. Check yourself
Our racism is indoctrinated and systemic. Even if we're actively fighting against the racism of our families, friends, and peers, we continue to benefit from centuries of oppression. No ally is immune from exhibiting racist behaviors or from being unhelpful even when their intentions are the opposite. Be willing to listen openly. Refrain from centering yourself in a movement that deserves your support but is not about you and about which you are not an authority. If you're doing work as an ally as a means of earning capital to counterbalance your white guilt or as a way of seeking accolades for how not racist you are, stop taking up space at the table.
3. Participate
Show up (without steamrolling) at a protest or rally. Can't do that? Donate instead - money, protest supplies, food and water, time or talent - there are many ways to help. Search for a local #BlackLivesMatter chapter in your city or take a look at this list of black-led social justice organizations if you're wondering where to donate.

Research the platforms of local politicians and their records on policy reform for eradicating police violence, including support of body cameras, the creation of training programs to reduce racial profiling, and efforts to get crimes that disproportionately target POC and other marginalized communities off the books. Share your concerns if politicians aren't taking real strides toward curbing hair-trigger violence and excessive use of force, especially toward POC, and withhold your support and your votes until they do. No idea who your elected officials are or how to contact them? Use this.

Zak Cheney Rice details more ideas here about how we can help quell police brutality in our cities.
4. Bear witness
Download the ACLU's mobile justice app or similar tools and prepare to record police interactions if you find yourself witnessing an encounter. Know the law and rehearse what to say if an officer asks you to turn off the camera. If you see POC being harassed by law enforcement, stick around. It may be illegal to interfere, but you're allowed to remain present and keep watch over a situation where abuse of power may be taking place.

Absolutely none of this comes close to enough, but it's a demonstrable way to be an ally in the face of hand-wringing that unfortunately sometimes stands in for meaningful action. We can't take back the unnecessary deaths of Sterling and Castile or the devastating collection of names that came before them, but we must help keep that list from growing any longer.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to be a white ally: Fighting racism is your responsibility - start now

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In his powerful acceptance speech for BET's Humanitarian Award this June, "Grey's Anatomy" actor and activist Jesse Williams made a brief sidenote, reminding white people that "the burden of the brutalized is not to comfort the bystander."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Irresistible Force: Judi Werthein | Tate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Werthein's Brinco (2005) trainers were designed to assist illegal immigrants seeking to cross the Mexican-American border. The trainers include a map of the region printed on the sole, a compass, a mini-flashlight, a secret pocket to hide money and other features to aid migrants in the arduous and dangerous trek north.

# data[].attributes.headline
How does the work of artists connect global issues with local concerns, issues, and contexts?

# data[].attributes.subject
How does the work of artists connect global issues with local concerns, issues, and contexts?

# data[].attributes.body
How do we as teachers develop themes that help us address timely events that recognize local and global contexts in the art classroom?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Look for the plus icon next to videos throughout the site to add them here.

Save videos to watch later, or make a selection to play back-to-back using the autoplay feature.

{{watchlist.lookupAttr('progress', video)}} / {{watchlist.lookupAttr('runtime', video)}}

Watch again

{{watchlist.lookupAttr('runtime', video);}}

Continue playing

(Time remaining: )

Play from beginning

Get our newsletter

Play from beginning

Continue playing "{{ controller.videos[controller.getVideo(controller.currentVideo)].segmentParentTitle}}"

{{controller.videos[controller.getVideo(controller.currentVideo)].title}} has ended.

{{ currentTime | date:'mm:ss':'+0000' }} / {{ totalTime | date:'mm:ss':'+0000' }} {{cue.title}}

Add to Watchlist Remove from Watchlist

Video unavailable

"Narrative and storytelling is in the blood," declares Carrie Mae Weems. Through a mixture of archival personal photos and the artist's first major photo-documentary series, Family Pictures and Stories, Weems takes the viewer on a personal journey through her childhood in the 1950s to a broader examination of "the history of black subjects in photography" in the series From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried.

Continually innovating, Weems has since adopted new strategies of picture making in the series Constructing History: A Requiem to Mark the Moment in which students at the Savannah College of Art and Design reenact pivotal Civil Rights and new moments from the past forty years. The segment follows the artist back to her home in Syracuse, New York, where she is seen staging the second chapter of the project in an ornate hotel ballroom, focusing on the drama of the 2008 presidential campaign.

More information

Closed captions

Translate this video

Through the Art21 Translation Project, multilingual audiences from around the globe can contribute translations, making Art21 films more accessible worldwide.

Licensing

Interested in showing this film in an exhibition or public screening? To license this video please visit Licensing & Reproduction.

Carrie Mae Weems 's vibrant explorations of photography, video, and verse breathe new life into traditional narrative forms like social documentary, tableaux, self-portrait, and oral history. Eliciting epic contexts from individually framed moments, Weems debunks racist and sexist labels, examines the relationship between power and aesthetics, and uses personal biography to articulate broader truths. Whether adapting or appropriating archival images, restaging recognizable photographs, or creating altogether new scenes, she traces an essential indirect history of the depiction of African Americans for more than a century.

"Narrative and storytelling is in the blood."

Art21 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization; all donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the go-to place to learn first-hand from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, Art21's mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists.

# data[].attributes.body
This is Not a Black
And White Issue,
Banners,
8th grade class, Chicago

# data[].attributes.headline
Julie Mehretu in collaboration with high school students, Minneapolis and St. Paul Are East African Cities, 2001-2002. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Julie Mehretu in collaboration with high school students, Minneapolis and St. Paul Are East African Cities, 2001-2002. 

# data[].attributes.body
In this project the artist asked students from Edison and Roosevelt high schools to document their daily lives in image and sound and then mapped their stories on an interactive map.
http://http://tceastafrica.walkerart.orghttp://tceastafrica.walkerart.org/http://tceastafrica.walkerart.org/map.html

# data[].attributes.headline
Carrie Mae Weems, Constructing History, 2008

# data[].attributes.subject
Carrie Mae Weems, Constructing History, 2008

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4VevU2LpQo

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Suzanne Lacy, Chris Johnson, and Annice Jacoby produced TEAM’s first large-scale performance art event, which featured 220 public high school students in unscripted and unedited conversations on family, sexuality, drugs, music, neighborhoods and the future as they sat in 100 cars parked on a rooftop garage. This one-hour documentary by Craig Franklin aired on KRON Channel 4, the Bay Area’s local NBC affiliate.

# data[].attributes.body
Whiteness (Still Life), 1999

# data[].attributes.body
30,000 paper napkins, ten different designs consisting of 20 questions

# data[].attributes.body
Untitled (Skin Tight/Skin Tone/Under the Skin/Skin Deep/Thin Skin), 2007

# data[].attributes.body
White Anti-Racist Studies, 2008-2009 ongoing

# data[].attributes.body
How do artists explore issues of identity and race?

# data[].attributes.headline
Imaging Difference: The Politics of Representation in Multicultural Art Education

# data[].attributes.subject
Imaging Difference: The Politics of Representation in Multicultural Art Education

# data[].attributes.body
Dipti Desai

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Here we go again. #Myhsa (aka @E_SCRAAATCH) has called attention to artist Cindy Sherman's blackface performance in some rarely seen works from 1976 by using the tag #cindygate. The work consists of black-and-white portraits of Sherman posing as bus riders of varying ethnicity, making what would become the signature methodology of her oeuvre. These performance/photography images in which she appears in blackface are so obviously deplorable, it feels like there is not a great deal of critical work to be done in parsing them.

Margo Jefferson, efficiently does so, critiquing the series in reviewing the 2005 exhibition titled, White: Whiteness and Race in Contemporary Art, shown at the International Center of Photography. She writes, "the blacks are all exactly the same color, the color of traditional blackface makeup. They all have nearly the same features, too, while Ms. Sherman is able to give the white characters she impersonates a real range of skin tones and facial features. This didn't look like irony to me. It looked like a stale visual myth that was still in good working order." So there are two dangers in this artwork: first, that it relies on and thus propagates the visual myth of black characters being interchangeable; and second, it reduces people to the sign of their skin color alone, and thus dehumanizes them, leaching them of political agency, of ontological potential, of beauty. This is a particularly odious failure of the work because it looks to ostensibly represent human beings.

It's difficult to determine what my response should be to these revelations that Cindy Sherman has done blackface in her work. The "should" here is important. As a college professor of mine said, there is a tyranny in this word. If one is black, as I am, one likely recognizes the tacit, quasi-contractual rider to this political category of personhood: to defend this identity, which even under normal circumstances is persistently besieged by structural and systemic attempts to exploit it, demean it, or take a piece of it as a souvenir. Even if this were not the case, my ethics are such that I would want to point out the atrociousness of Sherman's work. Still, my responsibility to defend my political tribe is felt more acutely when a fellow member calls out racist aesthetic production that at first blush seems representative of entrenched issues.

Sherman's bus rider portraits evokes other instances of blackface pursued in art practice: Eleanor Antin, Martha Wilson, Joe Scanlan, and the underlying issues of the privilege presumed and the power wielded by those who publicly exploit black bodies as spaces for projection. Though, in the case of Wilson's work, "Martha Meets Michelle Halfway," (2014) Wilson's invoking of the First Lady's persona is consistent with her relentless, decades-long examination of our collectively held expectations for how women are to appear and behave in public. Wilson's critique of women's depictions and correlated roles, in this instance, took the form of an impersonation of Michelle Obama posing for the kind of official portrait that might be hung in the White House. This work spotlights the inherent performativity of this genre of image making and satirizes the politics underlying representations of the First Lady - a conversation which Wilson had started in the 1980s by imitating Nancy Reagan. Wilson's blackface work profoundly contrasts with Sherman's in its clarity and sophistication, and crucially, in not making ill-considered presumptions about who the audiences for the work will be.

Unlike Wilson, Sherman's portraits seem not to be informed by the notion that black people would view this work - a distressing assumption that exposes one of the art world's principal political fault lines. As Mhysa says, "the art world has a lot of work to do regarding the Black viewer." Inevitably, countervailing arguments are marshaled to defend the exploration of and experimentation with disturbing, unsavory, or forbidden ideas (including the colonization of black bodies). With regard to this work, it's pertinent to ask "for whom is it made or shown?" Still, the pendulum can swing too far in the direction of perceiving an overall agenda of hostility towards people of color, for example when DiasporicX claims that, "the art world is centered around the white gaze on the blk/poc body." The art world as a multi-faceted sphere of activity, and Cindy Sherman's work, do not define this world, nor set the agenda for what is seen, discussed, or valued.

Divining its relevance to current art practice is one way to respond to Sherman's blackface photographs. Another way is recognizing that this work was made when Sherman was 22 and quite young in her practice. It is disappointing, but artists must often go through a process of moving through their bad work so they can get to the better work. While identifying the obvious problems of the photographs, particularly their approach to their subject matter, we can recognize that they do not represent the artist in her entirety. Thankfully, her work grew and changed since making these portraits. This work presents me with what is actually an opportunity, not an obligation:to use this comprehension of Sherman's early ethics to fuel a greater sensitivity to the subtle presumptions artists, galleries, and museums make about their audiences. The idea here is to use this conversation not merely to dismantle an artist's work, but to also widen our perceptive abilities and thus enlarge our politics. The idea is to move beyond denouncing and towards discovery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here we go again. #Myhsa (aka @E_SCRAAATCH) has called attention to artist Cindy Sherman's blackface performance in some rarely seen works from 1976 by using the tag #cindygate. The work consists of black-and-white portraits of Sherman posing as bus riders of varying ethnicity, making what would become the signature methodology of her oeuvre.

# data[].attributes.body
Mining the Museum, Installation at the Baltimore Historical Society, 1992-93

# data[].attributes.headline
What are the politics of representation? Who can represent who and why?

# data[].attributes.subject
What are the politics of representation? Who can represent who and why?

# data[].attributes.body
Keywords: Authentic, Identity, single story, narrative, “tribal”, minority, “exotic”, experience, difference, “high” or “low” art forms, social position, domination,

# data[].attributes.headline
My Philosophy of Critical Multicultural Teaching

# data[].attributes.subject
My Philosophy of Critical Multicultural Teaching

# data[].attributes.body
Jimena Evia

# data[].attributes.headline
Storytelling in the public sphere: How are popular culture, digital communication, and virtual communities constructing and deconstructing the stories we tell about race and racism? 

# data[].attributes.subject
Storytelling in the public sphere: How are popular culture, digital communication, and virtual communities constructing and deconstructing the stories we tell about race and racism? 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When asking students to explore issues of personal and social identity, teachers must provide safe spaces where students are seen, valued, cared for and respected. It is also important that students have opportunities to learn from one another's varied experiences and perspectives. To create this learning environment, teachers need to skillfully draw on student experiences to enrich the curriculum.

Teachers can show they value students' lives and identities in a variety of ways. Some are small, like taking the time to learn the proper pronunciation of every student's name or getting to know young people's families. Others require more time and investment, like building curriculum around personal narratives or incorporating identity-based responses into the study of texts. At the community level, it is important to understand neighborhood demographics, strengths, concerns, conflicts and challenges. Like students themselves, these dynamics may change frequently.

For teachers whose experiences differ from those of their students, it is critical to exercise sensitivity. They must bring the following to the effort:

An asset-based view of youth and unfamiliar identity groups

A commitment to avoiding and challenging stereotypes

A sense of openness and cultural humility

A willingness to let students define their own identities

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Honoring student experience supports three of the four anti-bias domains: Identity, Diversity and Action. Students who feel their experiences are unwelcome, judged, stereotyped, disrespected or invisible find it extremely difficult to engage in meaningful discussion of identity and justice issues. Those whose stories and voices are heard and reflected in the classroom are more likely to engage with anti-bias curriculum and translate their learning into action.

Knowing and valuing students' lives provides other benefits:

Ability to identify potential "hot spots" on key topics.

Development of caring student-teacher relationships that support effective identity-based learning.

Development of intergroup awareness and understanding.

Direction in the selection of texts that are relevant to a particular class.

Appreciation of student contributions to discussions.

Strategies

Classroom-Reflective Texts Coupled with Nonjudgmental Dialogue

Choosing texts that reflect classroom demographics and following the readings with discussions or reflective writing assignments can provide teachers with powerful information about their students' hopes, concerns, strengths and life circumstances. These practices also open channels of understanding among students. Successful conversations about issues of identity frequently lead to deeper dialogue about students' own backgrounds and the experiences of others.

Share Stories That Make Room for Student Sharing

Personal anecdotes-respectfully and thoughtfully shared by teachers-have great power. Stories should be chosen carefully, kept brief, and told at a level that invites appropriate student sharing.

Community Study or Student-Led Walking Tour

Community studies usually address up to three questions; structure can vary greatly and may involve research, interviews, art, writing, video or other media. A walking tour should also focus on a few themes and ask students to highlight neighborhood places they find meaningful in relation to a relevant social issue. Student age and physical limitations should be taken into consideration when planning a walking tour.

Without saying a word, classrooms send messages about diversity, relationship building, communication and the roles of teachers and students. Consider the different messages sent by these two classrooms:

Classroom 1

Desks are arranged in a U shape. The teacher's desk is in the front center of the room. On the wall is a poster of U.S. presidents, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and inspiring quotes from Winston Churchill, Robert F. Kennedy and Albert Einstein. Students are working quietly on an independent assignment.

Classroom 2

Desks are arranged in clusters of four with students facing one another. The teacher's desk is in the back corner of the room. On the wall is a display of student self-portraits, a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and inspiring quotes from Maya Angelou, Aung San Suu Kyi and César Chávez. Students are working with their table-mates on a group project.

Classroom setup should be student centered. Specifics will vary from teacher to teacher and class to class, but common elements include these:

Classroom milieu. Classrooms should be decorated with multicultural images that mirror student backgrounds and showcase the diversity of our society.

Arrangement of furniture and supplies. The arrangement will look different depending on age group and subject, but all teachers can draw on these goals when setting up a classroom: supporting collaboration, fostering dialogue, encouraging ownership and ensuring comfort.

Student roles and responsibilities. Classrooms will be most effective when structured to maximize student voice and participation.

Classroom norms. Norms and expectations should take into account different cultural and communication styles, as well as gender differences, language needs and the desire to challenge stereotypes. Students should be involved in setting classroom norms to generate buy-in.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Thoughtful classroom setup and structure supports two of the four anti-bias domains: Diversity and Justice. A welcoming class space sets the tone for participatory engagement. Diverse images affect students' conscious and subconscious understanding of classroom values. Expectations and practices that honor diverse backgrounds also create a more just and equitable educational experience.

Strategies

Classroom "Audit"

A (nonjudgmental) classroom audit involves "reading" the messages conveyed by the images on the walls, the books on the shelves and the arrangement of the furniture with an eye toward diversity, equity and student empowerment. The audit also includes considering the types of interactions that teachers have with students and that students have with one another.

Student Jobs and Ownership of Classroom Space

Many daily tasks can be done by students who, given the opportunity, may create new and interesting ways to approach them. Real-world lessons related to work and responsibility can be reinforced in a classroom. promoted for a job well done. Some classroom jobs might involve passing out materials, documenting or taking notes, managing a classroom library, filing papers or helping with a bulletin board. The job of "peacemaker" can work nicely in classrooms where students have been trained in conflict resolution. Jobs in a responsive classroom can accommodate multiple learning styles such as artistic, kinesthetic and verbal.

Gender-Neutral Practices

Many teachers, especially at the elementary level, seat or group students along gender lines. However, not everyone fits traditional gender categories. Some students may feel they are truly a different gender than their physical bodies suggest; others might not fit neatly into either the male or female identity category. Using gender-neutral categories or allowing students to choose the group with which they identify affirms the experiences of all students.

Differences shape who we are and what we know. Life, history, society and power cannot be understood from a single perspective; we need multiple viewpoints to truly see the world. Because of this, inclusive classrooms must function as learning communities built on shared inquiry and dialogue.

Dialogue is more than conversation. It is also different than debate, in which someone wins and someone loses. Dialogue requires openness to new ideas and collective learning. This is not an easy practice; for students (and teachers) to engage in dialogue, they must build and exercise specific skills:

Listening. Deeply listening to what others say and to the feelings, experiences and wisdom behind what they say.

Humility. Recognizing that, however passionately we hold ideas and opinions, other people may hold pieces of the puzzle that we don't.

Respect. Trusting the integrity of others, believing they have the right to their opinions (even when different from your own) and valuing others enough to risk sharing ideas.

Trust. Building a safe space to explore new ideas and work through conflicts, controversy and painful moments that may arise when talking about issues of injustice and oppression.

Voice. Speaking the truth as we see it and asking questions about things we don't know or understand, particularly on topics related to identity, power and justice.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Shared inquiry and dialogue support two of the four anti-bias domains: Diversity and Action. Building the skills necessary to explore multiple perspectives fosters critical thinking, complex textual understanding and appreciation for diversity. Dialogue also supports active listening, respectful sharing and conflict resolution. A culture of shared inquiry offers a lived example of meaningful collaborative work and a model for community building.

Strategies

Naming Shared Inquiry as a Goal

Because many students experience classrooms that do not value shared inquiry and dialogue, it is important for teachers to create a safe environment before asking students to engage in this work. Safety can be established by discussing principles of engagement, demonstrating the teacher's commitment to collective learning or creating a set of discussion agreements.

Teaching Active Listening Skills

Active listening is a way of hearing and responding to another person that requires the listener to stop thinking about his or her own ideas and focus on the speaker. Active listening behavior includes asking good questions, listening without judgment and paraphrasing. These behaviors can be modeled through the use of talking circles or ordered sharing. Short practice activities can also strengthen active listening skills.

Rethinking Participation Norms

To most teachers, class participation means contributing to discussions, volunteering to answer questions or otherwise engaging in verbal exchanges. However, participation does not have to be verbal; gender, culture and ability may affect student comfort levels with verbal communication. Modeling equity and inclusiveness calls for a broader definition of participation that includes active listening, written response, artistic response and involvement in small groups. These options should all be valued as classroom participation.

Addressing Conflicts and Hurt Feelings

Teachers need to prepare for possible conflicts or hurt feelings when exploring personally or politically sensitive material. Teachers can encourage students to publicly or privately name "ouch moments"-times when comments or reactions (usually unintentional) cause upset or discomfort. It is also helpful for teachers to check in with students who seem upset as a result of a class activity or conversation.

Social-emotional learning, respect and safety are as important as literacy and critical thinking skills when exploring an anti-bias curriculum. Research shows that students need to feel both physically and emotionally safe to learn. This includes safety from stereotype threat, harassment and exclusion.

Creating a safe climate takes time and work. These are some of the most important components:

Active teaching of social-emotional skills

Attention to creating positive relationships

Bullying prevention and intervention

Community building

Explicit focus on understanding and appreciating differences

Meaningful conflict resolution

Teaching students to challenge bias and exclusion

Upstander training

Work on classroom climate and social-emotional learning cannot simply focus on empathy, kindness and inclusion. Social difference and bias underlie many unsafe and exclusionary behaviors; these issues need to be discussed explicitly. Appreciation for multicultural perspectives is also critical when teaching about relationship building, conflict management and community. This helps students learn to draw on many traditions and experiences and address social divisions in the classroom.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Prioritizing social and emotional safety supports three of the four anti-bias domains: Identity, Diversity and Action. This practice supports a classroom community in which students feel secure enough to engage in respectful, productive conversations about identity and diversity. This work also models actions necessary to nurture inclusive, respectful connections across lines of difference.

Strategies

Classroom Contracts

A contract of norms and behaviors can help define the classroom community as a socially and emotionally safe place. Students should participate in shaping the contract, identifying a list of agreements about how class members will treat one another, talk together and so on. Issues such as identity, difference and power should be addressed explicitly. For example, a contract could include "Listen with respect to the experiences of others," "Try to understand what someone is saying before rushing to judgment" or "Put-downs of any kind are never OK."

Explicit Anti-bullying or Community-Building Curricula

Many powerful anti-bullying and community- building curricula, when integrated into the regular school curriculum, can build social-emotional skills and teach students to manage conflict. Below are a few suggested resources. Not all address diversity or bias issues specifically; be sure to add these issues to the existing materials if they're missing.

Tribes Learning Community. Research-based approaches to classroom and school-wide community building, social-emotional education and the development of positive learning communities (all grades).

Respect for All Project (GroundSpark). Award-winning films, curriculum guides and teacher training on issues of bias-based bullying, family diversity, gender role expectations and LGBT inclusivity (all grades).

Steps to Respect/Second Step (Committee for Children). Research-based social-emotional learning and bullying-prevention programs (pre-K through middle school).

Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History (Teaching Tolerance). Documentary and teaching guide about one student's ordeal at the hands of anti-gay bullies and his fight against hate and harassment (middle and high school).

A Guide to the Film Bully by Lee Hirsch (Facing History and Ourselves). Film and discussion guide on bullying and its profound impact on several different students and families (middle and high school).

Participation in Mix It Up at Lunch Day

Mix It Up is a Teaching Tolerance program designed to help students identify, question and cross social boundaries. Launched in 2001, Mix It Up recognizes that some of the deepest social divisions in schools are found in the cafeteria. Each fall, Teaching Tolerance sponsors a national Mix It Up at Lunch Day when schools around the country encourage students to move out of their comfort zones and share a meal with peers who are different from them.

Discipline and behavior management are central to classroom culture. How are students encouraged to treat one another? What happens when they make poor choices or present behavioral challenges? What shapes student-teacher interactions? And what happens when conflicts arise?

This critical practice asks teachers to think about behavior management in light of five key principles from the Perspectives curriculum:

Belief in the dignity of every person

Community building

Equity and fairness

Respect for cultural differences

Respect for the safety and inclusion of all individuals and groups

These values can be creatively infused into disciplinary practices. However, in general, responsive classrooms address three key aspects.

First, behavior management systems must support safe, inclusive communities by enforcing high standards for respectful interaction; incorporating student-generated discipline policies; teaching conflict resolution; and actively addressing all instances of bias, bullying, exclusion or disrespect.

Second, disciplinary incidents must go beyond punishment and be treated as opportunities for growth, restitution and community building. This is not to say that rules violations should not be met with consequences. However, if community respect is to be a core classroom value, students should not be cast out of the group, even if they struggle to live up to expectations.

Finally, behavior management practices must reflect fairness, equity and cultural awareness. Research shows that students of color and special education students face disproportionate rates of discipline, suspension and expulsion. These patterns have devastating social consequences. Applying disciplinary rules fairly requires self-awareness and willingness to suspend judgment (positive as well as negative) about individual students. Culture also plays a role in disciplinary judgments; in some cases, "inappropriate behaviors" may reflect a cultural mismatch between the norms of the school and the norms of a student's home culture. Teachers can better understand the relationship between culture and discipline by working on a related critical practice: self-awareness and cultural competency.

Connection to Anti-bias Education

Taking a values-based approach to behavior management and discipline supports one of the four anti-bias domains: Justice. This practice exposes students to community-building goals and to a system of justice that values all people and builds connections rather than creates divisions.

Strategies

Student-Generated Agreements and Contracts

Involving students in the design of classroom discipline policies can go a long way toward establishing buy-in and shared ownership of classroom culture. Ideally, students will work on the policies as a class, but teachers can also work individually with students who need extra support.

"Zero Indifference" but Not Zero Tolerance

Although zero-tolerance policies are popular, mounting evidence suggests that this approach does not make schools safer. An alternative (recommended by the American Civil Liberties Union; the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network; the Anti-Defamation League; the Respect for All Project; and Teaching Tolerance) is taking a "zero-indifference" approach to bullying, harassment and other disciplinary issues. Zero indifference means never letting disrespectful conduct go unaddressed; school staff always name and respond to behaviors, but they do not implement automatic suspension, expulsion or other punishments.

Restorative Justice

Restorative justice is an approach to school discipline (and criminal justice) that emphasizes repairing harm and restoring relationships rather than simply punishing those who have engaged in misconduct. Restorative justice spans a wide variety of practices and strategies, including peacemaking circles, peer jury processes, mediation, conferencing and classroom discussions focused on building empathy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
When asking students to explore issues of personal and social identity, teachers must provide safe spaces where students are seen, valued, cared for and respected. It is also important that students have opportunities to learn from one another's varied experiences and perspectives.

# data[].attributes.body
●Popular culture and media reproduce existing relationships between dominant and subordinate groups. In this way, culture produced for mass consumption seeks to erase difference and make certain sexist, racist, classist, homophobic, and colonial representations seem natural. (Racialized Looking/Gaze)

●Popular culture and media are an important place to critique the politics of seemingly straightforward storylines, plots, characters, and images. Stories are always selected and presented in particular ways. (Power and Ideology)

●Popular culture and media present an opportunity for teachers and students to take action in and beyond the classroom. (Ideal Culture -- working towards social justice)

●Popular culture and media provide the space and materials to break the rules and challenge the status quo. Media such as zines, blogs, graffiti, digital maps and so on offer avenues to represent alternative ideas and identities. (Representation)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We're taking Back Our Power

# data[].attributes.body
http://postcommodity.com/Repellent_Fence_English.html

# data[].attributes.body
Take a Picture with a Real Indian, 2010, performance, Washington DC

# data[].attributes.body
Points of  Proof, Web-based Project, 2005

# data[].attributes.body
The Hip Hop Project, The Yuppies Project, The Hispanic Project, The Schoolgirls Project, 1997-2001

# data[].attributes.body
●Moves from personal to structural/social/global understandings - is focused on everyday, relevant, and urgent experiences and concerns

●Rejects colorblind ideologies and approaches - is explicit about connections between race and power

●Committed to inclusive representation across race, class, gender, sexuality - strives to be non-hierarchical / non-linear

●Provides historical and social context for issues, questions, and skills - is culturally specific

●Explores bi-culturalism and cultural hybridization - the flow of influences across and between cultures rather than using existing categories or narratives

●Encourages social/institutional critique

●Prepares students for civic / democratic participation - is social reconstructionist

●Oriented towards transforming the conditions of inequality, serves as is a site of struggle within education - is Activist.

# data[].attributes.body
a visual artist and community organizer who merges her artistic practice with her political activism. Through her bold, vivid artwork, she has become a leading voice in raising awareness about immigration, women's issues, globalization and economic injustice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Favianna Rodriguez is a visual artist and community organizer who merges her artistic practice with her political activism. Through her bold, vivid artwork, she has become a leading voice in raising awareness about immigration, women's issues, globalization and economic injustice.

# data[].attributes.headline
Glenn Ligon, Untitled (“I Feel Most Colored When…”), 1993

# data[].attributes.subject
Glenn Ligon, Untitled (“I Feel Most Colored When…”), 1993

# data[].attributes.body
http://resources.artresourcestransfer.org/

# data[].attributes.headline
Chris Johnson and Hank Willis Thomas, QuestionBridge, 2012-ongoing

# data[].attributes.subject
Chris Johnson and Hank Willis Thomas, QuestionBridge, 2012-ongoing

# data[].attributes.body
●Moves from personal to structural/social/global understandings - is focused on everyday, relevant, and urgent experiences and concerns

●Rejects colorblind ideologies and approaches - is explicit about connections between race and power

●Committed to inclusive representation across race, class, gender, sexuality - strives to be non-hierarchical / non-linear

●Provides historical and social context for issues, questions, and skills - is culturally specific

●Explores bi-culturalism and cultural hybridization - the flow of influences across and between cultures rather than using existing categories or narratives

●Encourages social/institutional critique

●Prepares students for civic / democratic participation - is social reconstructionist

●Oriented towards transforming the conditions of inequality, serves as is a site of struggle within education - is Activist.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Audio Guides | Whitney Museum of American Art

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hear directly from artists including Dread Scott, and Senga Nengudi as they discuss their work in An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney's Collection, 1940-2017. Listen to additional commentary from curators on selected highlights from the exhibition.

# data[].attributes.body
Overt Curriculum

•The stated goals and objectives of the curriculum. The explicit messages that are taught.
Hidden Curriculum
•The unintended lessons or outcomes that are conveyed through the curriculum. The implicit messages that are conveyed.
Null Curriculum
•The ideas, texts, artworks, values/beliefs that are not taught but exist in our world.

# data[].attributes.headline
James Luna, Artifact Piece, 1985-87, Performance at the Museum of Man, San Diego

# data[].attributes.subject
James Luna, Artifact Piece, 1985-87, Performance at the Museum of Man, San Diego

# data[].attributes.headline
Fred Wilson, Grey Area (Brown Version), 1993

# data[].attributes.subject
Fred Wilson, Grey Area (Brown Version), 1993

# data[].attributes.headline
Krzysztof Wodiczko, Tijuana Projection, 2001

# data[].attributes.subject
Krzysztof Wodiczko, Tijuana Projection, 2001

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Look for the plus icon next to videos throughout the site to add them here.

Save videos to watch later, or make a selection to play back-to-back using the autoplay feature.

{{watchlist.lookupAttr('progress', video)}} / {{watchlist.lookupAttr('runtime', video)}}

Watch again

{{watchlist.lookupAttr('runtime', video);}}

Continue playing

(Time remaining: )

Play from beginning

Get our newsletter

Play from beginning

Continue playing "{{ controller.videos[controller.getVideo(controller.currentVideo)].segmentParentTitle}}"

{{controller.videos[controller.getVideo(controller.currentVideo)].title}} has ended.

{{ currentTime | date:'mm:ss':'+0000' }} / {{ totalTime | date:'mm:ss':'+0000' }} {{cue.title}}

Add to Watchlist Remove from Watchlist

Video unavailable

Through grand scale audio-video projects in public spaces, Krzysztof Wodiczko transforms national monuments and architectural façades into "bodies" as he collaborates with communities to get people to "break the code of silence, to open up and speak about what's unspeakable." Born of a Jewish mother who escaped the ghetto in World War II Poland, Wodiczko has been deeply affected by the devastation of war and violence all his life. In Hiroshima, he works with tearful survivors of the atomic bomb, helping them "to open up and share with the world what is so painful" through a commemorative projection. In Tijuana, he projects the faces of women onto the spherical façade of the city's cultural center as they tell detailed stories of being abused.

More information

Closed captions

Translate this video

Through the Art21 Translation Project, multilingual audiences from around the globe can contribute translations, making Art21 films more accessible worldwide.

Licensing

Interested in showing this film in an exhibition or public screening? To license this video please visit Licensing & Reproduction.

By appropriating public buildings and monuments as backdrops for projections, Krzysztof Wodiczko focuses attention on ways in which architecture and monuments reflect collective memory and history. Projecting images of community members' hands, faces, or entire bodies onto architectural façades, and combining those images with voiced testimonies, Wodiczko disrupts our traditional understanding of the functions of public space and architecture. He challenges the silent, stark monumentality of buildings, activating them in an examination of notions of human rights, democracy, and truths about the violence, alienation, and inhumanity that underlie countless aspects of social interaction in present-day society.

0:47

Featuring David Allen Grier

13:03

10:10

Art21 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization; all donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the go-to place to learn first-hand from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, Art21's mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists.

# data[].attributes.body
➔Racism is endemic to American life.

◆Education must name and discuss the pervasive reality of racism in US society, which serves to disadvantage people of color.

➔Dominant claims of neutrality, objectivity, colorblindness, and meritocracy must be challenged.

◆Education should expose and deconstruct seemingly “colorblind” or race neutral policies and practices.

➔Contextual/historical analysis is necessary.

◆Education - including curriculum and instruction - must be contextualized and historicized.

➔The experiential knowledge of people of color and our communities of origin should be integrated into discourse and analysis across disciplines and fields of knowledge.

◆Education should legitimize and promote the voices and narratives of people of color as a source of critique of the dominant social order.

➔CRT is interdisciplinary (crosses disciplinary fields such as law and politics or economics, etc.) and intersectual (ie takes into account how race, class, and gender are interdependent and connected).

◆Education should reflect an interdisciplinary approach that acknowledges the intersectional nature of race, class, and gender.

➔CRT works toward ending racial oppression as part of the broader goal of ending all forms of social oppression—it has a social justice focus.

◆Education must challenge race neutral lessons and superficial approaches to multicultural curriculum that utilize a tourist-like approach to culture and/or privileges the dominant culture.

# data[].attributes.headline
Ghana Think Tank, Black Lives Matter Street Signs, 2015. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Ghana Think Tank, Black Lives Matter Street Signs, 2015. 

# data[].attributes.body
Installed on 14th Street between Alphabet City and 10th Avenue.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Kerry James Marshall: On Museums | Art21 "Exclusive"

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Episode #030: Kerry James Marshall discusses his relationship to museums during the installation of the exhibition "Black Romantic" at Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, which features five paintings from the artists "Vignettes" (2003-07) series. Kerry James Marshalls work is based on a broad range of art-historical references, from Renaissance painting to folk art.

# data[].attributes.body
•STOCK STORIES: dominant/popular forms, public and universal

•CONCEALED STORIES: reframe or illuminate hidden histories and marginalized voices

•RESISTANCE STORIES: challenge stock stories, provide new possibilities for anti-bias work

•EMERGING/TRANSFORMING STORIES: New stories that deliberately challenge stock stories; these emerge from an analysis of stock and concealed stories

# data[].attributes.body
●Racism is a system of advantages based on race, distinct from prejudice; The stories we tell about race are socially constructed and ideological.

●Storytelling is a core component of critical pedagogy and a crucial means of representation.

●Storytelling is a platform on which to have honest conversations, much like the platform of visual art.

●The stories we tell about ourselves and each other are not just individualized and isolated but shaped by the environments in which we live and experiences of social position in relation to race, ethnicity, gender/sexuality, class, religion, ability, etc.)

●Storytelling is crucial to enacting a curriculum that addresses students’ lives (in and out of school): What are the ways you will solicit student stories through the curriculum you develop?

●We tell stories every time we stand in front of a classroom and place images and text on our classroom walls: What are the stories you tell through your curriculum?

# data[].attributes.headline
Pepón Osorio, No Crying in the Barbershop, 199

# data[].attributes.subject
Pepón Osorio, No Crying in the Barbershop, 199

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Look for the plus icon next to videos throughout the site to add them here.

Save videos to watch later, or make a selection to play back-to-back using the autoplay feature.

{{watchlist.lookupAttr('progress', video)}} / {{watchlist.lookupAttr('runtime', video)}}

Watch again

{{watchlist.lookupAttr('runtime', video);}}

Continue playing

(Time remaining: )

Play from beginning

Get our newsletter

Play from beginning

Continue playing "{{ controller.videos[controller.getVideo(controller.currentVideo)].segmentParentTitle}}"

{{controller.videos[controller.getVideo(controller.currentVideo)].title}} has ended.

{{ currentTime | date:'mm:ss':'+0000' }} / {{ totalTime | date:'mm:ss':'+0000' }} {{cue.title}}

Add to Watchlist Remove from Watchlist

Video unavailable

The final artist in Place is Pepón Osorio, filmed on location in his birthplace of Puerto Rico and his residence in Philadelphia, PA. Osorio leads the viewer on a tour of three complex, multidimensional installations where the artist's Puerto Rican heritage and experience as a social worker inform his staged confrontations between public life and private spaces.

Says Osorio, "When this piece, The Scene of the Crime, was at the Whitney Museum, it almost felt as if I'd taken a piece of the South Bronx and placed it in the middle of Madison Avenue."

Also featured in this hour is the work Home Visits which transforms the homes of ordinary people into neighborhood-based galleries for a traveling work of art.

More information

Closed captions

Translate this video

Through the Art21 Translation Project, multilingual audiences from around the globe can contribute translations, making Art21 films more accessible worldwide.

Licensing

Interested in showing this film in an exhibition or public screening? To license this video please visit Licensing & Reproduction.

Pepón Osorio's work is heavily influenced by his experience as a social worker in The Bronx, and his pieces usually evolve from an interaction with the neighborhoods and people among which he is working. A recent example is Tina's House, a project created in collaboration with a family recovering from a devastating fire. The house-a tabletop-size art piece-tells the story of the night of the fire and those affected. The work traveled the country in a series of "home visits," in which a new family lived with the art work for a period of at least one week, allowing the story of Tina's House to be told in many homes and environments.

2:03

Featuring Laurie Anderson

12:11

10:53

Art21 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization; all donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the go-to place to learn first-hand from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, Art21's mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists.

# data[].attributes.body
-Dialogue:

Curriculum is developed in dialogue with students about issues that are related to their lives.

-Praxis:

Theory informs practice and practice needs to be theorized in order to enact social change.

-Problem-posing approach:

Curriculum equips students to 'talk back' to the world. Who makes decisions? Who is left out? Who benefits and who suffer? Why is a given practice fair or unfair? What alternatives can we imagine? What is required to create change?

-Grounded in lived experience:

Curriculum is rooted in children's needs and experiences. It respects their innate curiosity. What issues are important to them?

-Visionary:

Curriculum yields opportunities for students to imagine alternative realities and possibilities.

-Participatory/Activist:

Curriculum provides opportunities to experience and participate in real-world contexts and situations as well as act as change agents in those situations.

-Culturally Responsive:

Curriculum addresses diversity in terms of race, class, gender and sexuality as well as differentiated learning styles and different ways of knowing.

-Naming:

Identifying and exposing those social processes that promote social injustice and hegemony.

# data[].attributes.body
"Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.”