Culture, Racial Identity,
and Agency:
Mary Stone Hanley, professor, George Mason University
Probing the possibilities of
culturally responsive arts
education
I like the program because it made me have
more confidence in myself. It made me
believe in myself because I was so use to
people putting me down telling me you
can't do this, you can't do that. It was never
to try and you will succeed, so I gave up on
myself. Thank you. You helped me a lot…
---Torie, age 14
How do I commit myself to do work that is
predicated on a belief in the power of the mind,
when African American intellectual inferiority
is so much a part of the taken-for-granted
notions of the larger society that individuals in
and out of school, even good and wellintentioned people, individuals who purport to
be acting on my behalf, routinely register
doubts about my intellectual competence?
---Theresa Perry on the dilemmas of African
American students (Perry, Steele and Hilliard, 2003).
Many a person is unhappy, tortured within,
because he has at command no art of
expressive action.
---John Dewey, Art as Experience
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What our children need is love and the arts—
love to know they are valued and the arts to
express that value.
Haki Madhubuti
“And this redefinition of educational equality
means affirming that problems or
shortcomings in learning are not so much in
shortcomings in ethnic minority students as in
inequalities in the schools they attend. It also
means refocusing schools toward being more
responsive to human variability, spending less
time manipulating ethnic students to make
them comply to institutional structures, and
instituting programs and processes that
empower students through access to highquality knowledge and experiences.”
-- G. Gay
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
Heinz Foundation Literature Review
RACIAL OPPRESSION
Positive
Racial Identity
Development
Culturally
Responsive
Pedagogy
Resilience
Achievement
ALANA CULTURE AND EDUCATION
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
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Pedagogy developed using the culture of students
Students are agents of change
Inspires critical, imaginative, and creative thinking
Inspires affective learning
Encourages active learning
Stimulates connections to the community and
community development
Develops knowledge of global, national, and
historical connections
Themes for Culturally
Responsive Pedagogy
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Involve the community.
Use culture and racial identity as an asset.
Educate about racism and racial uplift.
Develop caring relationships.
Assume success.
Promote active learning, problem-based instruction
and student involvement.
Employ the arts.
Acknowledge the challenges.
Culture
…the web of significance that man himself has
spun
Clfford Geertz
Drama
Discipline, Commitment, Motivation
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10 weeks, 3 hours/day, 5 days/week
Learned performance skills and acting techniques
using culturally relevant content and form.
Created a script through improvisation and
storytelling using culturally relevant content and
form.
Performed for peers, educators, family, and
community members.
Name
Age/
Gender
GPA
Parental
Occupation
Lives with
Mico
13/male
1.5
sells clothes in KMart
mother
Toni
13/female
1.5
sells clothes in KMart
mother
Hakeem
14/male
2.5
teacher
mother
Tori
14/female
2.5
beautician
mother
Lateefa
13/female
2.0
retired
grandmother
Ronnie
13/male
3.0
(m) office worker mother and
(f) restaurant cook father
Delonn
13/male
2.0
unemployed
mother
Sala
14/female
2.0
beautician
mother
Olivia
13/female
3.5
pediatrician
mother
Sheryl
13/female
3.0
postal worker
father
Jaz
14/male
1.5
day care worker
sister
David
14/male
3.5
paralegal
mother
Trane
14/male
1.5
bank teller
mother
Crystal
13/female
2.5
cosmetologist
mother
Nile
14/female
3.0
telemarketer
mother
Matilda
14/female
2.5
bus driver
mother
Mona
14/female
1.5
nanny
sister
Cassandra
13/female
2.5
unemployed
guardian
May
14/female
3.0
(m) computer
operator
(f) plasterer
Isis
13/female
2.5
(m) travel agent (f)
Mother and
county administrator father
Mother and
father
Culturally Responsive Arts
Education
P
EMPOWERMENT
E
R
F
O
Risk
taking
Risk taking
Respect
Respect
Powerlessness
R
E
S
I
S
R Imagination
AGENCY
Creativity T
Creativity
M
Imagination
A
A
N
N
C
C
E
E
Culture and Community
Agency
“the freedom of human beings to make choices
in ways that make a difference in their lives”
J. Martin, J. Sugarman, & J. Thompson
…”the capacity to exercise control over one’s
own thought processes, motivation, and
action”
Albert Bandura
Artistic Agency
PERCEPTION
CONCEPTUALIZATION
EXPRESSION
TRANSFORMATION
Attributes of the Arts
Imagination
Creativity
Problem-Solving
Higher Order
Thinking Skills
Collaboration
Intrinsic Motivation
Communication
Interdisciplinary
Structure
Observation Skills
Connection of Mind,
Body, Emotions, &
Spirit
Cultural History
Empowerment
Active Learning
Affective Learning
Risk-Taking
Openness
Sensory Awareness
Community Building
Alternative Symbol
Systems
Pattern, Rhythm
Harmony, Balance, &
Composition
Critical Thinking
Cultural Change
Cultural Knowledge
Pleasure (Fun)
Concentration/Focus
Self-Discipline
Hypothesizing
(What if?)
Mental and Physical
Agility
Research Skills
Aesthetics: Study of
Beauty
Multiple
Perspectives
Empathy
Artistic Agency
Perception
Conceptualization
Expression
Transformation
Achievement / Success through
Culturally Responsive Arts
RISK-TAKING
CULTURE
EMPOWERMENT
PLEASURE/FLOW
MOTIVATION
IMAGINATION
CREATIVITY
AGENCY