The arts as a means of cultural integration: a Chilean case study.

How might the arts help to unveil and integrate realities so as to facilitate shared meanings and understandings between peoples and thus generate the conditions for the participatory, creative cultural diversity which may contribute to the construction of more democratic societies? Taking contemporary Chile as its case study, this research delves into the potential of the arts to mirror and integrate fragmented sectors in a societys drive towards human development. To this end, it uses an interdisciplinary methodology comprising complementary empirical and theoretical approaches so as to investigate the arts as transcultural formative experiences. The former entails a comparative analysis of two groups of Chilean artists (one group in exile in Britain, the other resident in Chile) through data obtained primarily via in-depth interviews. The theoretical approach contextualises and universally grounds these social actors discourses in order to identify commonalities which may bind both groups together. The thesis addresses the question of how these artists make art to construct, mediate and sustain meanings, senses of belongings and humanising spaces for transformative learning, exchange and integration in society, giving valuable insights into subjective as well as collective processes of identity construction in the era of globalisation. The findings take the shape of a written text following the logic of the categories emerging from the artists narratives, together with a series of video projects - an emergent outcome of the research. This research is situated at the junctures of critical, cultural and educational theory. It is of interest to cultural policymakers as well as scholars of contemporary art theory, social history, political philosophy, Latin Americanism, exilic narratives and the poetics of the audiovisual.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Robert Gordon University

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Rodr�guez-Remedi, Alejandra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John Baldacchino, Charles Juwah and Abelardo Castro Hidalgo

• Culture
• Arts
• Integration
• Chile
• Identity
• Society
• Pedagogy
• Exile
• Video
• Interdisciplinary

Language dc:language

en

Identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:247721

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:rgu-repository.worktribe.com:247721