A Dialogic, Arts-Based Process for Challenging and Reconstructing Representations of Students of Color With Disabilities

• In Event: 66.057 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 66.057-7 - Practice and Process in Arts-Based Educational Research

Abstract

In this paper, we explore our arts-based educational research (ABER) process for challenging and reconstructing representations of students of color with disability designations as these negative representations pose barriers for educational equity. Our process pushes the possibilities for dialogue in developing the critical consciousness of all participants, and in the construction of representations themselves as negotiated and temporary artifacts. We employ digital collage for its affordance of meaning through juxtaposition, inter-relationships, and play. In our process, growing long-term relationships with students is central as they are engaged as experts and participants in the critical dialogue around their representations. We explain our frameworks and process through examples from a current project with Alysha, an 18 year-old African-American student diagnosed with ADHD.

Authors

• Gene L. Fellner, College of Staten Island - CUNY

• Helen Kwah, Hunter College