Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Tographic'

This study is an a/r/tographic living inquiry that investigates the theme of displacement through visual and textual performances of my experiences of being un/homed. It is an aesthetic (and not anesthetic) self-exploration of my struggles of in-betweenness and unbelonging through and with/in multiple layers of my identity as a Persian-Canadian, and emigrant/immigrant artist, researcher, learner, and teacher. Additionally, this work draws on post-colonial literature to analyze the journey of an artist, researcher and teacher sharing her personal experiences as an emigrant/immigrant struggling with absence and loss, trying to make a place to belong. In the pedagogical process/product of this living performance, I re-visit, and re-member my lived and living struggles with the concepts of home, language, Othering, invisibility, exoticism, pain and ethics, and critically analyze those struggles through a post-colonial lens. What is re-presented throughout this dissertation is a critical self-exploration through art creation (photographs and video installations) and writing. I suggest that through the process of visually/textually writing about home one can create a home for oneself in the spaces of one’s creation. I highlight the significance of the pedagogical moments of being together, with pain and I call for a sensitive pedagogy of representation in art education.

This text documents an a/r/tographic act of inquiry into memory and identity (de)construction. Speaking in, through, and of images the work physically situates itself in spaces uncharted. Meaning asserts and reveals itself between words, creating an other-text which defies boundaried definitions in its resistance to be known. That which we seek to map or mark eludes us. Knowledge is displaced in its representation. It is our longing for meaning which paradoxically interferes with its own processes. Spaces (dis)lodged between borderlands (Irwin 2004) shift and elude our grasp. The work resists that which it seeks to define and erases that which it seeks to name. It calls upon us to create space for doubt and unknowing within our own longing for understanding(s). If, as Grumet (1996) asserts "education is about a human being making sense of her life" (17) we must be aware of the ways curricular directives "do and do not stand for our experience" (19). The crisis of modernism is that we exist as fractured selves (Pinar 1996) within curricular landscapes which cut us off from our own identity (24). Pinar claims that "understanding curriculum as the revelation and construction of identity implies understanding education as a form of social psychoanalysis... (American) identity is constructed partly by denial, by maintaining fictions" (25). I view curriculum as traumatized text - that which refuses to be 'known' by the curriculum serves to subvert, bury and deny the learner's knowing. Absence of authentic dialogue creates gaps in the curricular landscape which serve to silence and partition off knowing - essentially, the learners are partitioned off from themselves. The work calls upon us to re-imagine curriculum as the space between learner and text/image, where meaning is continually (re)(de)constructed in the fissures of lived experience. It calls upon us to dwell (Aoki 1993) in spaces of uncertainty and ambiguity - spaces for possibility. If wisdom begins in wonder (Socrates) as I believe it does, we must embrace what may be the ultimate paradox in teaching: to facilitate learning we must also be willing to facilitate unlearning. May we, as Walt Whitman decrees, 'ordain ourselves loos'd of limits and imaginary lines'.
Education, Faculty of
Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of
Graduate

For me, the path is now clear—release the deep intuitive feeling first and then reflect and respond through intelligence and internal aesthetics. This thesis of creative scholarship is about process, permission, and original voice. I have used intuitive music, poetry, and narrative to create a multi-faceted tapestry that exposes my life roles, my feelings, my values, and the grayer, in- between areas of knowing, teaching, and learning. This process of rediscovery and reclamation of voice has been one of artistically giving myself permission to break through my personal masks and roles as well as transcend cultural paradigms to locate myself. The methodology of A/r/tography (Springgay, S., Irwin, R.L., Wilson Kind, S. 2005) was chosen as a path to make sense of multi-storied archetypes and multilayered avenues of artistic expression. This process is rendered through concepts of excess, metaphor, openings, contiguity, metonymy, living inquiry, and reverberations. Renderings enable artists, teachers and researchers to interrogate the interstitial spaces between things, for example image and work, text and audience, researching, pedagogy and artmaking (Springgay, S., Irwin, R.L., Wilson Kind, S. 2005). The artistic explorations and consequent renderings of revelation and reflection of this ontological exploration can be loosely grouped into seven major themes: Personal Context and Context formation Heroes Regrets Issues with the prevailing culture New beginnings (The importance of) Artistic/Transcendent/Arational spaces Reflections and intimate looks into the form and function of educational landscape. The writing and music were then analyzed in light of who I am and what I know. Results consisted of a number of conceptual strides forward in both my artistic vision and my teaching. Overall, a/r/tography enabled me to gain deeper autobiographical understandings about issues that have shaped my view of the world. From music, poetic and narrative renderings, I learned valuable insights about the real me. I discovered a multilayered individual inside who became reenergized and revitalized about finding my inner voice. From a/r/tographic renderings, I analyzed and reflected on what I learned and unlearned. Though there were resolutions, there were also new directions as I explored intuition, broke boundaries and reclaimed voice. I sculpted and embraced stories behind stories about myself. The notion of hero surfaced while regrets brought new narratives. Who am I? I am artist, teacher, guitar player, and a/r/tographer.
Education, Faculty of
Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of
Graduate

This dissertation is an a/r/tographic inquiry (Irwin & Springgay, 2008) that explores postmodern picturebooks and writing theory. Postmodern picturebooks have been described as texts that blur traditional literary boundaries and text-image relationships, while employing devices like metafiction and playfulness (Goldstone, 2002; Sipe, 2008). As meaning becomes more ambiguous, readers are positioned as co-constructors of meaning (Serafini, 2005). Research has shown students enjoy reading postmodern picturebooks and constructing meaningful transactions despite the complex nature of these texts (McGuire, Belfatti, & Ghiso, 2008; Pantaleo, 2004, 2007, 2008), but few have begun to explore how these texts are written. Therefore, I used a/r/tography (Irwin & Springgay, 2008) to theorize about the relationship between these texts and what it means to write. As a method of inquiry, a/r/tography is an arts-based approach to research that is interested in how artistic practices produce meaning and a/r/tographers use art to “construct the very ‘thing’ [they] are attempting to make sense of” (Springgay, 2008, p. 159). In this study, I wrote and illustrated a postmodern picturebook and interpreted how this experience generated understandings about what it means to write. In response to the process model of writing (Flower & Hayes, 1981), the data led to representations that offer new perspectives on contemporary writing theory, in particular, the interpretive, public, and situated nature of writing (Kent, 1999). As a result, I use theories of metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980/2003; Lakoff & Turner, 1989) to critique writing process theory (Elbow, 1973, 1981; Flower & Hayes, 1981) and propose that a/r/tographic inquiry creates openings for new possibilities within the post-process movement (Kent, 1999) by demonstrating how a writer’s evolving questions (Irwin & Springgay, 2008) relate to writing pedagogy.

Immigration is the act of moving to and settling into a new country. It means starting again while leaving many people and things behind. This phenomenon has been embraced, embodied, lived, celebrated and suffered by many people for various reasons throughout history. Factors such as war and political oppression, poor living conditions, economic opportunity and stability are explanations for why people decide to leave their native countries. Therefore, immigration embodies loss of one’s culture but at the same time embodies celebration for enhanced opportunities, when arriving and adjusting to the codes of a new system. Understanding cultural displacement as the sensation of being in a third space, of having to re-invent yourself again, adjusting day-by-day to a new culture, this study examines how Latin American immigrants to Canada confront cultural displacement. Applying a/r/tography and photo-elicitation as research methodologies the study sets up conditions for participants to engage and construct meaning together about being away from home. This research analyzes the extent to which Latin American immigrants to Canada negotiate being in-between these two spaces (their country of origin and Canada). It does this primarily through the creation of a series of photographs and conversations. Some of the findings reveal that indeed Latin American immigrants acknowledge that the process of settlement in a foreign land is complicated and it takes time to adjust and understand the culture. At the same time Latin American immigrants admit the importance of comprehending, cultivating and embracing Canadian culture, in order to merge easily in its communities. Similarly, the findings unfold the way participants created their own version of what it means to be Canadians rather than learning simply from others about its significance. As immigrants, the group I studied kept some features of Latin cultures alive in Canada, in this way, the study presents a new understanding of what is possible while dwelling in the in-between.

A high school visual art educator, along with 20 students enrolled in this teacher/researcher's Advanced Placement (AP) studio course, investigated the processes involved in creating artwork. Understanding artistic processes beyond skills and techniques is significant for curriculum development, but it is also key in conceptualizing art as a way of knowing. The arts based research strategy utilized in this study was a/r/tography, which focuses on the interconnectedness between artist, researcher, and teacher/learner. This highly reflective form of action research allowed the researcher and students to uncover new understandings of what it means to be an artist-researcher through a combination of knowing, doing, and making. Student-researchers learned several arts based forms of inquiry by analyzing the processes of contemporary artists. They were invited to record and reflect upon their own processes in a research journal as they generated artworks. The teacher-researcher also kept an intensive reflective journal concerning artmaking, but also included pedagogical concerns, questions, observations, and insights. At the conclusion of the semester, students were taught to analyze their own artistic process via their sketchbook entries by creating two visualizations: a mind map and an artwork as a data visualization of their process. Several important understandings are drawn from this study that transform this educator's practice as an artist-educator. These include the following concepts: not knowing as an artist, researcher, student and teacher; anxiety may be a necessary factor in artistic creation and pedagogy; and pretending is a strategy that allows one to productively move through uncertainty, ambiguity, and anxiety.

This a/r/tographic research study examines how explorations of identity and place influence a sense of self. An elementary art educator investigated the roles of artist, researcher and teacher by having students create artwork individually and as a class. These pieces reflected their understanding of place and how it contributed to a sense of self. Using the methodology of a/r/tography, this teacher separated her identities of artist, teacher and researcher, and explored the complications and implications of all three in relation to her place as an elementary art specialist and her identity in the classroom. Several important understandings were drawn from this research study, specifically the idea of using art making as a learning tool to uncover identities in relation to place in an elementary classroom, the complications of working with elementary students on a deeper level due to the amount of students and the schedule of an art specialist, and the difficulties of coping with the demands placed on an art specialist.

As an art educator, I found student art lacking in meaning and students lacking personal engagement. I sought a way to engage students in more meaningful art-making in the classroom by exploring family heritage and personal spaces. This case study searched the family heritage and personal spaces of students in a junior high art class to engage students and find deeper meaning and context for student art-making. The research was informed through an arts-based inquiry with a/r/tographic influence. It was a qualitative inquiry, mining the familiar for development of a curriculum rich in context and personal significance for students. This inquiry examined the influences of family through art-making and research into the visual culture of student homes and heritage. We curated our personal spaces and made art that reflected our findings, keeping reflexive journals of our experiences, and exhibiting our art in a culmination of our research. The results were meaningful content in student art as well as more enthusiastic engagement in the art making process. This experience gleaned more than just student art rich in meaning, but in a deeper understanding of one another in our classroom.

Contemporary artists have been successful in breaking into prisons and persuading the prison institutions, the general public and prison educators to legitimize artistic activity. However, the discourses on prison theatre have been largely dominated by therapeutic and rehabilitative agendas, possibly at the expense of theatre practice - its aesthetic strategies, and aural and visual qualities. This research comes against such a background. The research project was developed in response to the debates and concerns about artistic work in applied prison theatre. It was located at the borders of what can be articulated about aesthetic intervention 'without purpose' in a prison setting; - without purpose in the sense of eschewing big claims of social and psychological efficacy. Through the practice of a/r/tography, which is a means of inquiry through a method of art making, the research examined what is possible about the work. Of particular interest was the potential to explore possibilities for aesthetic intervention understandings and nuances in prison theatre. Be that as it may, although there was a conscious moving away from the applied umbrella as overtly instrumentalist, it can be argued from the findings that there is a possible tension of falling under the umbrella.

Beginning with art as life and art practice as living inquiry , my investigation starts with the question, How can we trust each other through art and its practice? Throughout my Art-based research, A/r/tography study, I examine how I deal with obstacles in my life by looking back at my childhood memories and my artistic practice. I have always been interested in dialogic relationships with others. My past experiences guide me in understanding reciprocal relationships among diverse people who live in multicultural communities. This interest has led me to analyze how the Great East Japan Earthquake that hit Tohoku on March 11, 2011 affected me as a Japanese immigrant. This thesis includes: autobiographic narratives; the visit to Tohoku reflected in my art practice; stories of an artist, Linda Ohama, a Japanese Canadian filmmaker who supports Tohoku people through her art and creative process; and my past art practices. This collection of work (method) represents my own tsunamis as I face privilege, responsibility and respect that reciprocate with my feelings of trust. Tsunami, as a metaphor of life, is a central theme. The problem I have is that I often distrust myself when I encounter obstacles in my life. As I inquire more deeply through my art-based research—conceptually, spiritually, and theoretically—I come to understand that each experience of distrust I have had in the past is an evolution, part of my own tsunamis within which I re-examine the meaning of life, personal values, and humanity. There I learn from the differences between myself and others. This thesis is presented as an event, which includes a series of my own tsunamis, divided into four exhibitions. I welcome and invite you as a reader to become a participant.
Education, Faculty of
Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of
Graduate

One can argue that embracing technological models may produce students who are illiterate in the "proper" methods of communication. With rapid technological change, some fear traditions in their "original" form may be lost. Practices such as trying to recapture the artist's intent should be abandoned as a way of opening up literacy discourse to multiple narratives. Failing to critically explore the possibilities of emerging models of thinking, teaching, and learning in a technological culture can produce a loss equal to the loss of tradition. An a/r/tographer works toward a fluid practice between the domains of artist, researcher, and teacher in order to negotiate emerging forms of visual/tactile/auditory communication which include the body as a networked organism situated recursively within the larger structure of society. This study occurred during two separate semesters of an art education course for pre-service elementary teachers. Through interaction with hypermedia, social networking, installation art, and mash-ups, the teacher and students became artists, researchers, and teachers in a community of practice. A new form of teaching practice was envisioned that opens the possibility for both collective and individual understandings in the formation of curricula. A set of guiding principles was invented through practice as a way of producing a deeper understanding of culture and self. The following principles were derived from engagement with emerging technologies: In