| Melanie Davenport: | |
| Name: | Melanie Davenport |
| Academic Institution: | University of Florida |
| email: | mdaven@ufl.edu |
| Country: | Estados Unidos/United States |
| Paper Title | Intercultural Graphicacy: Art Educational Strategies for the Post-colonial Era. |
| Abstract: | According to Balchin and Coleman (1965), and Poracsky, Young, and Patton (1999),the ability both to understand and to manipulate visual information is an essential component of education for a literate populace. Despite increasing reliance on visual communication in the contemporary world, “graphicacy” still receives little attention in many education systems. To this art educator, the concept of graphicacy resonates with recent initiatives, such as visual culture education, that challenge art teachers to engage their students in analyzing, understanding, and responding to the visual information flowing through society, particularly technology-oriented, consumeristic, late-capitalist societies. One significant obstacle to the implementation of art curricula designed to foster critical visual literacy is the problem of where to begin. Considering the entire visual output of any one society, much less global cultural producers, is daunting. Deciding which information to privilege, where to begin in one’s analysis, has discouraged many art teachers from pursuing this agenda. I believe that an intercultural perspective can provide a much-needed rationale and direction to visual culture art education. In the era of economic globalization, tensions over cultural colonization, including debates over appropriation and commercialization of local visual traditions, highlight the need for increased attention to intercultural graphicacy. Following an examination of the concept of intercultural graphicacy, I propose specific strategies to engage students, from the inner-city to even the most remote village, in understanding and critiquing the stories about human interaction, cultural conflict, and idea diffusion that are revealed through images and products. Beyond that, and more importantly, perhaps, I propose that intercultural educators must engage students in the other half of the literate act, the creation and communication of their own stories, through graphical processes. These concepts are illustrated with examples drawn from diverse groups of students with whom I have worked. |