Art as an Agent for Social Change

Hala Mreiwed, Ph.D., McGill University, is a child rights education consultant and course lecturer in the Faculty of Education at that university. The focus of her most recent publications and research are child rights education and creative drama.Mindy R. Carter, Ph.D., University of British Columbia, is an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at McGill University’s Faculty of Education. She has published books and articles on arts education, teacher education, curriculum and pedagogy.Claudia Mitchell, Ph.D., University of Alberta, is a Distinguished James McGill Professor in Education at McGill University. She has published extensively on participatory visual methodologies, teacher education and girlhood, including Disrupting Shameful Legacies: Girls and Young Women Speaking back through the Arts to Address Sexual Violence (Brill, 2018).

“Art as Agent for Social Change deftly explores the connections between art and social change through a rich telling of the journeys of knowledge work of artists, researchers, educators and activists. The cover artwork lingers as a ‘framework’ for future journeys of knowledge production highlighting the necessity of introspection, but also interaction, interdependence, inter-connectedness, and intersection required for wholesome scholarship for social change in complex and uncertain times. The editors have brought together a powerful text that opens up possibilities for innovation in connecting art, research, teaching and community activism, enabling the authentic and respectful interbeing of individuals and communities, vitalising the work they do. The interdisciplinary text makes a timeous and important contribution to the field of arts-based research.” – Naydene de Lange, Professor Emeritus, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa“A superb collection of provocative, educative, and imaginative artful narratives that celebrates arts and their significance in bringing about personal, social, and ecological transformations. Given the inclusive, holistic, contemplative, and collaborative nature of the contributions, this volume emphasizes interconnection, hope, well-being, and empowerment and contributes to a burgeoning global movement for social justice and change. An important read for all educators!” – Ashwani Kumar, President, Arts Researchers and Teachers Society, Canada“In a time of dire need for social change, this book offers a captivating collection of ‘snapshots’ that showcase the transformational power of arts in education. It allows us to witness inclusive research practices, recognize multiple global perspectives, challenge pre-conceived perceptions, and appreciate arts-based methodological approaches with the goal of re-imagining education.” – Sara Hashem, PhD, Arts Educator, McGill University

• ForewordJudith MarcuseAcknowledgmentsList of Figures and TablesNotes on Contributors1 In Focus: Snapshots of Social Change through the ArtsMindy R. Carter, Claudia Mitchell and Hala MreiwedPART 1: Community Building2 “Imagining Things Being Otherwise”: Rethinking Community and the Art Museum ExperienceSage Kincaid and Callan Steinmann3 Voices from the Heart: Using Community and Art to Foster Social Change in Pre-Service TeachersSheryl Smith-Gilman4 Art Hive: A Relational Framework for Social ChangeLeah Lewis, Heather McLeod and Xuemei Li5 The Murder Next Door: Developing Healing Responses and Building Community Following Trauma Using Research-Based TheatreRosemary C. Reilly6 Lost in Transition: Brecht’s Theatre as a Social Change Agent for Youth Empowerment in the Time of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Hong Kong HandoverLo Wai Luk and Ho Ka Lee Carrie7 Making Stone Soup: Arts-Based Organisational Interventions and Participants’ Communication, Teamwork, and Sense of WellbeingMariam Ugarte and Warren Linds8 Visions of Hope in Education: Fostering Student Teachers’ Identities of Becoming Agents of Change through a Photo Competition and ExhibitionAvivit M. Cherrington9 Empty Jars: Using Memoration to Confront the Settler Colonial Project through Arts-Based ResearchDeanna Del VecchioPART 2: Collaborations10 Walking with Wonder: Attunement to the Senses and Relationality in Photographic InquiryAmélie Lemieux and Boyd White11 Expression and Action for Change: A Contemporary Arts Center and School CollaborationDeborah Randolph and Karen Morris12 Moving beyond Celebration toward Action: Affordances and Tensions in Screening and Audiencing Cellphilms and Participatory Verbatim FilmsCasey Burkholder and Matt Rogers13 Cameraless Film-Making in the Education Classroom: A Professor-Student Artistic CollaborationLisa A. Mitchell and Kerri Kennedy14 Choreography as Poetic, Pedagogical, and Political Action in Contemporary TimesTone Pernille Østern15 Teaching the Mind-body: Integrating Knowledges through Circus ArtsMadeline Hoak, Alisan Funk and Dan Berkley16 Contemplative Arts-Based Practices in EducationGiang Hoang Le Nguyen, Trinh Ngoc Phuong Bui and Jodi Latremouille17 The Generative Act of Critical Pedagogy: Animating Children’s Books and Games as Research PracticeSue Uhlig, Amy Migliore and Jacqueline Reid-WalshPART 3: Teaching & Pedagogy18 Our Words Flowing into Wide Futures: Making a Difference through Poetic Professional LearningKathleen Pithouse-Morgan19 Eight Weeks, Eight Verses: Using Arts-Based Inquiry to Explore Educator Subjectivity and Reflexivity during a Time of Social ChangeMarguerite Müller and Frans Kruger20 Dear Artemisia: Art as Transformation in Sexual Violence PreventionVictoria Dickman-Burnett21 Fiction for Social Change: Addressing Gender in and through Popular FilmsEsther Armaignac22 Unconscious Acts: An Auto-Ethnographic Investigation into Euro-Centric White Normative Consciousness in Theatre Training Programs in CanadaMakram R. Ayache23 A Pedagogy of Presence: Attending to Context, Process, Being, and BelongingRébecca Bourgault24 Conceptualising a Black Feminist Arts Pedagogy: Looking Back to Look ForwardAmber C. Coleman25 Working Toward Sustainable Creative Social Justice Practices: Advancing Equity and Justice in the AcademyAmanda Claudia Wager and Kristen P. Goessling