Barrett Bornhofen 
Llorens's "Imaging the Great Puerto Rican Family Framing Nation, Race, and Gender during the American Century" opened up my mind to how beautiful the Puerto Rican culture actually is. Many people only see the negative aspects of the land, because of how the media portrayed Puerto Rican life. One of Lloren's goals for this book was that she "want[ed] to properly inscribe [Puerto Ricans] in the very history that made them into silent images, denying them the word". Before reading this book, I thought the same as most people did. I believed Puerto Rico did not really have much to offer, but Llorens succeeded at describing what life was really like for them without the colonial misrepresentation. Her book really changed my perspective.
Puerto Rico
Llorens, Hilda. 2014. Imaging The Great Puerto Rican Family Framing Nation, Race, and Gender during the American Century. Lanham, MD; Lexington Books
Before taking this course, I was aware of the mistreatment of Native Americans in the United States. That being said, I did not know to what extent the mistreatment was like. After reading about Pratt's boarding school, my view on assimilation definitely changed. At first, I thought assimilation would be good for Native Americans so they could learn our culture. However, from the assigned readings throughout this course, I now know how difficult it made lives for the Natives. The boarding school made them lose their own culture, and tore kids apart from their families.
Native American
"after three years at the mission school she felt that she had no place in the world, that she was caught in between two cultures" (Devens).
Devens, C. (1992). "If We Get the Girls, We Get the Race": Missionary Education of Native American Girls. Journal of World History, 3(2), 219-237.
Native Americans were even forced to apply white powder to their faces to look more like the white man. Not to mention cut their hair and remove tribal jewelry.
Native American students at one of their boarding schools.
From personally growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, I would say I've been privileged pretty much my whole life. I have never lived in the inner-city. Life in the inner city is definitely more difficult than I originally thought it was. Ferguson's "Bad Boys" really hit the nail on the head with how serious children's lives are in the inner-city. These kids are just in elementary school, and their lives are being predicted by the teachers as bound for jail. They are practically being set up for failure. This story made me thankful for attending a successful school system. "Bad Boys" really made me realize how privileged my life has been and how "white privilege" is a real concept.
African American
Ferguson draws on critical pedagogy to state that discipline is not being applied to certain students because the school system is linking skin color to behavioral practices. It is a critical issue that is going on in the world today that should be talked about more often.
Ferguson A. A. (2000). Bad boys: Public schools in the making of Black masculinity. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
From reading Song's "Identity and Duality" and Park's "Korean Artists in Transcultural Spaces: Constructing New National Identities", I truly understood what hybridity meant in terms of culture. It really opened up my perspective on the United States and made me realize that our own culture is actually hybrid. Our culture is hybrid because of all of the many different cultures inside of it. When reading Song and Park's thoughts, at first I thought that being in two different cultures would cause confusion and frustration, like it did for the Native Americans. However, hybridity actually made the kids of Korean culture to grow in Song's workshop. The students even said it themselves, "I think, maybe, having two cultures is actually a good thing" (Song).
Hybridity
"all cultures are hybrid, dynamically shaped by interactions among a great international and other external, cross cultural forces. Nations do not construct themselves out of some sort of basic or foundational element. Rather they form their identities through interactions and transactions with other cultures" (Park).
Song's "Identity and Duality" also helped me realize how important self expression is for one's personal and mental growth. Her self expression art project made the Korean kids gain confidence in themselves and grow to enjoy being in two different cultures.
"Fear of self-expression is a form of self-imposed slavery." -Zero Dean
Park, J. (2014). Korean Artists in Transcultural Spaces: Constructing New National Identities. International Journal of Art and Design Education, 33(2).
Song,Y. (2009). Identity and Duality. Art Education.
Although I am not an education major, I actually thought reading about critical pedagogy was very important. It made me realize how much more interesting my experience throughout school could have been if my teachers were more aware of this concept. Growing up, I never really learned how important keeping up with current events and critical issues in the world was. I feel like if my teachers talked about these critical issues in the world more and encouraged us to research and think for ourselves, I would have definitely been more well rounded educational wise.
Critical Pedagogy
Giroux states that he "understand[s] pedagogy as political because it is inherently productive and directive practice rather than neutral or objective" (Giroux 2011). He believes pedagogy should be more one sided every now and then so students can hear different perspectives and figure out who they are and how they relate to others.
Fortunately, when I was growing up my parents were both pretty one sided with their political beliefs. However, their views were opposites of each other. My mom is more conservative, and my dad is more liberal. This actually helped me a lot with determining my own beliefs because I got to hear both sides of their arguments. I'd say I have views from both sides of the spectrum. It has made me more neutral, which I think is pretty cool. So I think they did a great job incorporating critical pedagogy into my life.
Giroux, H. (2011). Critical Pedagogy in Dark Times.
See middle of African American branch for an example of critical pedagogy by Ferguson in her book "Bad Boys".
The timing of me taking this class aligned perfectly with the spark of a critical issue in the United States today. This allowed me to base my Rethinking Multicultural Art Education Project on the culture of Mexico and the injustice of the treatment of Mexican immigrants in the United States. From doing this, I learned more than I have ever thought I would about Mexico and the reasons why they come to the U.S. Some parts of Mexico seemed beautiful, and I hope to visit these places in the future. On the other hand, some places definitely seemed corrupt and I could understand the reasons why they would want to come here for a better life.
Mexico
Their dominant religion is Catholic Christianity.
Folk Art is the type of artwork that you would usually find in Mexico
Spanish is their native language.
Futbol, or as Americans call it "soccer", is their most popular sport.
The traditional music you would find in Mexico, are songs called "Corridos".
Mexico faces problems such as poor education, violence, and corruption. The areas of the country the are corrupt include the police and some elements of their government.
I also researched and learned about the lives of famous Mexican artists Damian Ortega and Raul De Nieves.
Damian Ortega
Raul De Nieves
Born in Mexico City in 1967
Started his career as a political cartoonist in Mexico
Now creates masterpieces that are sculptures made from everyday items.
Got his inspiration from his experience of the dark times in Mexico
His works of art usually contain a little hidden humor
Born in 1983 in Michoacan, Mexico
Currently lives and works in New York
Attributes his art practice to his childhood in Mexico
Makes faux stained glass windows and also beaded sculptures
When he first came to the United States he was not able to see his family for 9 years
Creates fashion pieces that are not practical to wear
In 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools in its famous case Brown vs Board of Education. The Little Rock Nine were the first group of African American students that attended a predominately white school in the United States. Since then, the cultures of the African Americans and caucasians have clashed, but have also caused hybridity between the two cultures.
For a long time, African American culture developed separately from other American cultures because of racial discrimination and slavery in the United States. However since racial tensions have died down over the years, African American culture has become very important to American culture and is now part of it.
African Americans had to endure pain and oppression for many years in the school system even though the schools were now open to them. Many white students and teachers still would not accept them.
See end of each other branch (besides critical pedagogy) to see examples of hybridity in the world today.
There are approximately 12 million Mexican immigrants in the United States today. Of those 12 million immigrants, a lot of them flow into Texas; more specifically El Paso, Texas. Since there is such a large Mexican population in El Paso, it has definitely had a large influence on the culture in the city. It has caused a "Tex-Mex" hybridity of both the caucasian and Mexican cultures. Most people in the city speak Spanish, and Mexican cuisine is huge there. There are also many Mexican cultural events that go on in the city as well. El Paso's culture is heavily influenced by both American and Mexican cultures because of its position as a "border town". It has caused both cultures to mix with each other and become hybrid.
El Paso is so close to Mexico, that you can see the Mexican city of Juarez from El Paso.
For example, the month of February is now Black History Month in the United States. During this time, we look back and remember the important people and events of African American history and culture.
Since Puerto Rico has become part of the United States's jurisdiction, there has been an "Americanization" of Puerto Rican culture. There was a big process of assimilation in Puerto Rico. The United States' opinion of Puerto Rico was that they were not capable of developing a civilized culture on their own. Puerto Rico then had to go through the long process of "Americanization" by Americans so that they could become civilized. They had to go through this process until the United States thought they were capable of assuming the responsibilities of citizenship.
This "Americanization" of Puerto Rican culture definitely caused the culture of Puerto Rico to become hybrid. Puerto Ricans in the United States have an identity that includes some African-American elements, which conflicts with their Spanish culture somewhat. Since Puerto Rico is now owned by the United States, their culture has mixed with many other cultures in the United States since we have so many cultures inside our country.
On the other hand, the American influence on Puerto Rico has been huge over the years. It has influenced areas like music, literature, and even the film industry. Jazz is popular in their style of music, and the island also attracts many U.S studios for movies.
All of this American influence on Puerto Rico has definitely changed Puerto Rican culture in a way. It has made their culture mix with American culture. The United States even reconstructed the island's economic structure so it would benefit the United States more. Naturally, while a country controls another piece of land, there is always going to be some sort of hybridity between the two cultures.
Pictured below is a Puerto Rican woman wearing antebellum style clothing, which is a style most known to be popular in the southeastern portion of the United States.
El Paso's "Tex-Mex" culture is a mixture of Texas's cowboy western culture and Mexican culture.
They even have their own style of Tex-Mex music that is influenced from both cultures.
The environment of these boarding schools often felt like military for the students. They were forced to wear uniforms, cut their hair, and even march in formation. Rules were harsh when broken by students. The United States' approach to trying to assimilate the Native Americans, was too harsh and too much like a military camp for the Natives. However, it did cause hybridity of the Native American culture since they were forced to take on these American looks and practices.
The hybridity started in the boarding schools and has continued to live on throughout history.
Although the cultures mentioned in my project have all assimilated to American culture, they still stick together and have organizations that unite members of their culture and speak out about issues and topics that deal with their communities. For example, Native Americans have a civil rights group called AIM, which stands for American Indian Movement. They fight for rights of Native Americans and their main goal is to create economic independence for Indians.
The NAACP stands for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, this group is a civil rights organization that was formed to advance justice for African Americans. It was formed in 1909 and has fought for justice ever since then. They have had large impacts on the country during periods of high tension such as the Jim Crow era and desegregation.
The LULAC, or the League of United Latin American Citizens, is a latino civil rights organization that was founded 1929. It is currently the oldest surviving latino civil rights organization in the United States. They have fought for justice in the country since before World War II.
The LatinoJusticePRLDEF, which stands for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education fund, is a New York based national civil rights organization. Their goal is to change discriminatory practices against Puerto Ricans via litigation. It was founded in 1972, and has fought for Puerto Rican improvement such as bilingual education in New York City schools. It is now the most important legal advocacy group for Puerto Ricans in the United States.