The Arts & Social Justice -- Notes on Curriculum Development

Note: This blog post is still in progress. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions and/or suggestions regarding this subject.

Social justice can be integrated into arts education programming, with thoughtful and meaningful connections. Different art forms such as music (performance, composition), sculpture, film, and poetry can be integrated into one-time workshops or class series that can continue for ten or more sessions.

Here are several examples of ways by which social justice as a theme can be integrated into arts education curricula:

Labor Rights

Film:

• Waste Land (dir. Lucy Walker)

New Media:

• "10 Simple Steps to Your Own Virtual Sweatshop" by Jeff Crouse and Stephanie Rothenberg

Immigration

Literature:

• Librotraficante Movement

Music:

• "By the Time I Get to Arizona" by Public Enemy (revisited by Chuck D and DJ Spooky)
  
• "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" by Woody Guthrie
  

Colonialism / Post-Colonial Realities

Articles & Interviews:

• "Inspire change, make every day a Mandela Day" by Jocelyne Sambira
• interview with Ivan Kadey of National Wake (Brazilian blog Terra sem Lei)
  
• "Invictus: Nelson Mandela's favourite poem set to music by opera star Pumeza Matshikiza" by Anthony Barnes
• "Ladysmith Black Mambazo on Nelson Mandela, Graceland & 50 Years as South Africa’s Cultural Ambassadors" by Bret Love & Mary Gabbett
  

Literature:

• Dance the Guns to Silence: 100 Poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa (edited by Nii Ayikwei Parkes & Kadija Sesay
• "The Free Radio" by Salman Rushdie
  "A Poem for Nelson Mandela" by Elizabeth Alezander

Music:

• "The Click Song" by Miriam Makeba
• Graceland by Paul Simon
  

Other Resources:

• education at Robben Island Museum
  Ladysmith Black Mambazo PlayTime Study Guide (UC Berkeley)
• "South African Punk Band National Wake" on PRI's The World
  

Slavery, Civil Rights

Literature:

• The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Music:

• "Black & Blue" by Fats Waller & Andy Razaf (esp. recorded by Louis Armstrong)
• "A Change Is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke
• "Only a Pawn in Their Game" by Bob Dylan
  "Strange Fruit" by  Lewis Allen (esp. recorded by Billie Holiday
  

Poverty, Privilege, Wealth

Music:

• "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" by E.Y. Harburg

Photography:

• Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange
• Sugar Children by Vik Muniz
  

Installation:

• "Tina's House" by Pepón Osorio

Social Justice & Environmental Concerns

Silent Spring at 50

Over the past several years I have taught classes that use the aforementioned (and other materials) -- in creative writing, multi-arts, and other contexts. Currently I am developing curricula for one-time workshops and long-term courses that use elements that interconnect the arts and social justice.

One can see that several of the aforementioned categories (e.g. immigration and civil rights) are interconnected. Thoughtful consideration should be made in terms of what would be age-appropriate.

This fascinating intersection between the arts and social justice can be explored in a number of directions. The source materials used, intended outcomes, activities developed, students' works created, and program evaluation can vary depending on variables such as class size, students' ages / grades, and course duration.

To help students see connections between societal forces in different contexts, it would be interesting to include cross-cultural materials into the curriculum.

It is tricky to and interesting to try to figure out and explain to students how different art forms relate to the theme of social justice, and how social justice can be broken down into "subcategories." Also, it's interesting to talk about what art form(s) a particular artwork "fits into." For instance, if you're talking about a song, the lyric could be analyzed as a poem, and the musical aspects of the song could be examined in depth. The documentary Wasteland involves several art forms, such as photography, sculpture, and film. In addition, some artworks are new / hybrid forms.

Please note that the aforementioned lists of class materials is a very short list indeed...hundreds of other materials could be included... Other categories such as children's rights, women's rights, gay rights, medical rights, and other categories could be developed as well.