Why the Arts Don't "Do" Anything: Toward a New Vision for Cultural Production in Education

In this essay Ruben A. Gaztambide-Fernandez uses a discursive approach to argue that mainstream arts in education scholarship and advocacy construes "the arts" as a definable naturalistic phenomenon that exists in the world and is available to be observed and measured. In the course of his...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHarvard educational review Vol. 83; no. 1; pp. 211 - 237
Main Author Gaztambide-Fernandez, Ruben A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Harvard Education Publishing Group 01.04.2013
Harvard Education Press
Subjects
Academic achievement
Advocacy
Aesthetic Education
Art Education
Art Expression
Citizen Participation
Creativity
Cultural Influences
Education
Educational Attitudes
Educational Change
Educational Objectives
Educational Practices
Educational Research
Guarantees
Music Teachers
Outcomes of Education
Persuasive Discourse
Professional Training
Rhetoric
Teaching Methods
New York
United States > US
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Summary:In this essay Ruben A. Gaztambide-Fernandez uses a discursive approach to argue that mainstream arts in education scholarship and advocacy construes "the arts" as a definable naturalistic phenomenon that exists in the world and is available to be observed and measured. In the course of his analysis, he examines how this construction is employed through what he calls the "rhetoric of effects" as part of the mainstream discourses used in arts in education research today. He describes how this positivistic rhetoric masks the complexity of those practices and processes associated with the arts, limiting the possibilities for productively employing such practices in education. In addition, he explores how discourses of the arts both arise out of and continually reify hierarchical conceptions of artistic practices in education and broader society. He concludes by proposing an "alternative rhetoric of cultural production," arguing that moving toward this new way of understanding practices and processes of symbolic creativity is critical for expanding our vision for the arts in education.
ISSN:0017-8055
1943-5045
DOI:10.17763/haer.83.1.a78q39699078ju20