Prof calls on art teachers to reject ‘geometry of whiteness’

Prof calls on art teachers to reject ‘geometry of whiteness’

• In a chapter for a new "Handbook of Race and Arts in Education," a University of North Texas art education professor argues that K-12 teachers should work to combat "geometries of whiteness."
• Tyson Lewis contends that "whiteness is a kind of one-dimensional way of being in the world," suggesting that educators incorporate "critical whiteness studies" to advance the "social justice agenda" of art education.

An art education professor at the University of North Texas is urging his fellow educators to use social justice-themed art classes to fight “geometries of whiteness.” 

Tyson E. Lewis, who teaches classes on critical pedagogy and aesthetic theory, contributed a chapter on “Art Education and Whiteness as Style” for a new guide aimed at other educators, The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Arts in Education. 

"Because whiteness and maleness are geometric styles, aesthetic questions are intrinsically political and political questions are inherently aesthetic."    Tweet This

“Art education needs to draw upon critical whiteness studies to further its social justice agenda while at the same time recognizing the resources that art education brings to questions of whiteness,” Lewis writes in the preface of his chapter. 

In response to concerns over the lack of minority educators in K-12, especially as schools are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse, Lewis argues that “the question of whiteness cannot be avoided if we are to continue to uphold the idea of educational equity and equality.”...

Read all.