"A Positive, Safe Environment": Urban Arts High Schools and the Safety Mystique

In this research article, Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández and Dominique Rivière examine the discursive frames that students and teachers in four specialized arts high schools in Toronto used in describing their schools as safe environments. The belief that arts high schools are safe is shared by stude...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHarvard educational review Vol. 89; no. 3; pp. 397 - 420
Main Authors Gaztambide-Fernández, Rubén A, Rivière, Dominique
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Harvard Education Publishing Group 01.09.2019
Harvard Education Press
Subjects
Art Education
Bullying
Critical Theory
Cultural factors
Cultural Influences
Education
Educational Environment
Educational Research
Foreign Countries
Gays & lesbians
Gender
High Schools
Home Schooling
LGBTQ People
Psychopathology
Public schools
Race
School boards
School Safety
Schools
Secondary schools
Social Bias
Social Influences
Student Behavior
Student Diversity
Student Needs
Student teacher relationship
Students
Urban Schools
Violence
Canada (Toronto)
New York
Canada
United States > US
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Summary:In this research article, Rubén A. Gaztambide-Fernández and Dominique Rivière examine the discursive frames that students and teachers in four specialized arts high schools in Toronto used in describing their schools as safe environments. The belief that arts high schools are safe is shared by students and teachers, particularly in relationship to LGBTTQ+ students, making these schools optimal settings for examining what safety means and how it is construed. The authors show how the assumption that arts high schools are safe is related to the larger social and cultural context in which each school is situated. By asking what it means to be safe, whose safety, and from what dangers, they aim to demystify the notion of safety, showing how it is related to dynamics of inclusion and exclusion that can be traced to broader national discourses. Drawing on critical race theory, as well as the concept of homonationalism and the construction of exalted subjects, the article highlights the remarkably similar discourses through which both arts high schools and the liberal nation-state are construed as safe.
ISSN:0017-8055
1943-5045
DOI:10.17763/1943-5045-89.3.397