Covello, L. (1958). The heart is the teacher
Cultural Deprivation Theory and
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Folklore and Education
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- Folklore ——— 349 Contemporary Folklore and Education Efforts
Cultural Deprivation Theory and
the Rise of Folk Arts in Education From the 1950s through the 1970s, explicit cri- tiques of cultural deprivation theory as well as com- plementary work in education contributed to a continuing Progressive strain of schooling. As psychologists and sociologists promoted “cultural deprivation theory” as an improvement on biologi- cally based theories explaining why some groups of people tended to be less successful in dominant cul- ture schooling than did others, folklorists argued the flaws of such theory, drawing upon empirical studies of the folklore of marginalized groups, and explaining the dynamic between these noninstitutionalized, mar- ginalized cultures and dominant, school culture. Also at this time, prototypes to Folk Arts in Education (FAIE) emerged, as scholars promoted including lives of “undistinguished Americans” in curricula as essential to American culture. Officially Folk Artists in the Schools (FAIS) programs were established with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1976, with the purpose of including a wider range of artists than those generally included in the more widely known Artists in Schools programs. Folklore ——— 349 Contemporary Folklore and Education Efforts Currently, FAIE programs are housed not only in schools, but also in libraries, museums, and commu- nity agencies, with the shared aim of humanistic understanding of individuals and social groups, through engaging students in close documentation and analysis of local culture. Folklorists have also rec- ognized the inevitability of the standards movement and have produced comprehensive frameworks for folklore standards and integrated curricula. Analysis of FAIE publications reveals five preva- lent goals. First, FAIE programs help students and teachers learn to value their own and familiar individ- uals and groups and their vernacular, everyday artistic expressions: Typically, this is described as helping young people see that people can be creative artists outside of dominant culture institutions like museums and concert halls. Second, this recognition plus the folklorist’s out- sider perspective helps students see the value and importance of familiar heroes and local events, espe- cially due to many programs’ focus on students’ fam- ilies and neighbors in the context of history, politics, and economics. Common activities include visits to local workplaces, including mills and factories, with students prompted to examine how the dominant cul- ture threatens local cultures. Third, FAIE programs engage teachers and students in critically observing differences between elite and popular culture, and the folk culture of their own com- munities, thus helping students recognize their own “cultural capital” as equally authoritative to that spon- sored by schools and the media. Fourth, FAIE recenters authority outside of institu- tions. A central, though usually unstated, purpose of all FAIE curricula is challenging the exclusive legiti- macy of official knowledge and thus challenging insti- tutions to include truly heterogeneous authorities, bringing community knowledge into the classroom as authoritative, and community people in as teachers. Finally, because FAIE projects are based on students’ participation in real learning situations out- side the classroom, the work is inherently collabora- tive, connecting students in classrooms with people and organizations in larger community settings. Folklorists working in education have created rich resources for use in schools; however, since these are often published through museums and government agencies, they are often difficult to find. Thus, folk- lorists continue to work to build relationships with those working primarily in schools in order to increase the impact of their work. Important resources for locating and obtaining both materials and the theoretical discussions that frame them include the online newsletter of the Folklore and Education Section of the American Folklore Society; the American Folklife Center’s online A Teacher’s Guide to Folklife Resources; and Paddy Bowman’s 2006 article, “Standing at the Crossroads of Folklore and Education,” which provides an excellent listing of online resources. In addition, C. A. Bowers’s work in ecojustice pedagogy provides an excellent frame- work and rationale for integrating folkloristic studies into social foundations curricula. Lynne Hamer Download 94.32 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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