Art education shaping historical narratives in the Mississippi Delta: A polyptych study of CARE

The Charleston Arts and Revitalization Effort (CARE) located in the rural town of Charleston, Mississippi positioned along the Mississippi Delta in Tallahatchie County is the subject of this dissertation’s inquiry. By placing a microhistorical focus on the cultural-historical geography contexts of CARE, this study answers the central research question: How does art education shape historical narrative? Three supporting questions guide the research: (1) What are the conditions and contexts that produced CARE? (2) What is CARE performing? (3) What is CARE producing? These questions are unfolded through polyptych methodology which opens multiple points for engaging the data including archives, oral histories, visual and material culture, and arts-based research. Within the oral histories of members and leaders of CARE that were collected for this project, four primary themes emerge. They are: (1) Programming, (2) Meeting Needs, (3) Access, Exposure, and Opportunity, and (4) Bringing Together. Through an analysis of these themes, art education, which is a pedagogical process of how to see and how to represent, is understood to operate as 'more than' in the effort to create 'wholeness' within systemic gaps, absences, and inadequacies. In doing so, the research demonstrates how art education shapes historical narratives that reinforce dominant cultural values.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Stokes-Casey, Jody

Contributors dc:contributor

• Travis, Sarah
• La Barre, Kathryn
• Lucero, Jorge
• Thi Nguyen, Mimi

• art education
• oral history
• polyptych methodology
• microhistory
• cultural-historical geography
• arts-based research
• the South, Mississippi Delta
• Mississippi

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Jody Stokes-Casey

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/112965

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/112965