Culture and Identity: Our Responsibility

Mary Sikkes

University of British Columbia

 Marshall McLuhan once said, Canada is the only country in the world that knows how

to live without an identity. (What Canadian identity? Which Canadian values?).

As teachers, it is our responsibility to accept the importance of media pedagogy, to teach

digital literacy, and to encourage students to make meaningful connections between the images

and art around them and the lives they lead in the physical world. As Kiran Subhani (2015)

points out, media literacy is a critical skill for future global citizens trying to make sense of the

images representing the current and ever-changing state of society (p. 35). It is equally

important that the histories of cultural artwork are taught and the message of each is

acknowledged and understood without prejudice. In Art, Culture, Identity and Representation:

A Conversation with Three Art Educators (n.d.), Sylvia Kind acknowledges art as the central

issuethat you look at in exploring culture.

Stacy Friedmans (n.d.) documentary, Art Education Culture: A Puppet-Based

Exploration of Identity, Racism, and Responsibility begins with the essential question: Should

artists be able to represent the stories or the experiences of other cultures (cultures other than

their own)? As one student points out, writers may write from the perspective of a character

other than themselves. While writers may choose to show acceptance, indifference, even racism

depending on the character, the reader recognizes that the character does not represent who the

writer is, but rather the story they are attempting to tell or the history they are attempting to

share. The same is not always true for art. Both collaborative videos acknowledge the fact that

representing culture and identity, as well as opening a discussion about history and conflict, can

be very difficult through art. However, art provides us with something tangible and allows us the

opportunity to bring dialogue and experience into the idea of culture and what culture means.
 Art is a tool, but how do we navigate the willingness or unwillingness of each student to

share their own cultural experiences, and give all students a feeling of inclusion and comfort in

the classroom? As asked in Friedmans documentary, how do we decide whose voice will be

heard? Educators may shy away from teaching about certain cultures in their classrooms for

fear of teaching incorrectly, inadvertently offending or criticizing, or for lack of understanding of

other cultures themselves. As a teacher of European descent with 80% First Nations students the

past two years, I have questioned how much depth I should go into when teaching First Nations

culture and history because I was afraid of inadvertently doing or saying something seen as

insulting or criticizing. As was pointed out in Friedmans documentary, however, if we choose

not to teach about a certain culture, we will not learn anything about it.

The message I am left with is that art cannot only broaden our minds, but encourage

social action. Art is a connection between identity and culture, and through art perhaps we can

truly broaden our ideas and identities to better understand ourselves, each other, and cultures

around the world.

 Resources:
Art, culture, identity and representation: A conversation with three art educators Stacy

Friedman, Sylvia Kind and Roger Dane [Adobe Flash video]. (no date). Retrieved 1

June, 2016, from:

https://connect.ubc.ca/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_787

85_1&content_id=_3433216_1&framesetWrapped=true

Friedman, S. (no date). Art education culture: A puppet-based exploration of identity, racism,

and responsibility [Adobe Flash video]. Retrieved 1 June, 2016, from:

https://connect.ubc.ca/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_787

85_1&content_id=_3433216_1&framesetWrapped=true

Subhani, K. (2015). Photos as witness: Teaching visual literacy for research and social action.

English Journal 105(2), 34-40.

What Canadian identity? Which Canadian values? Retrieved 1 June, 2016, from:

http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/foundation_gr9/blms/9-1-3b.pdf