HARDCOPY ISSUES

V.1 N.1, Fall 1992

Article Abstracts

by Hinde Avery

Faculty of Education
University of British Columbia

Abstract

This paper argues for a feminist perspective as a basis upon which to restructure built environment education. It concentrates on women's issues in the physical urban structure--which includes houses, buildings, public space, parks, roads, and so forth. The paper is divided into two parts: First, there is the presentation of certain issues in the literature on women and urban struture as a rationale for including women's issues in built environment education; and second, arguments on the problem--that built environment education lacks gender equitable curriculum.

by Kristie Lang

Faculty of Education
University of British Columbia

Abstract

This paper examines a postmodernist theory of representation, and its relevance to an education in the critical consumption and production of photographic portraits. It would be argued that a postmodernist perspective is useful for this type of education because it brings to the foreground that which the medium easily masks: the consensus among creator, consumer, and society which influences certain visual conventions used to create and interprete images. Photography is paradoxical by its very nature, and postmodernism serves to highlight these tensions and emphasize their irreconcilability. Parody, the postmodernists critical tool, can be employed in this case to direct students' attention to existing representations, and to challenge culturally-determined responses to portraiture. Moreover, it will be suggested that students can go beyond a critique to consider ways in which they can create portraits using a postmodernist approach.

by Aristides Gazetas

Faculty of Education
University of British Columbia

Abstract

Educational goals of self-awareness can be secured through methods of reflective inquiry into the special ways film and television structure our world. This orientation follows Dewey's (1938) theories of a curriculum based upon interaction between experience and education. His theories emphasize the results of critical awareness in the discovery and rational explanation of relationships between experiences of images and those of the actual world. This paper argues that educators need to recognize the impostance of films and television as schools of experience that students encounter daily. The teacher acts as a director of experience. Films such as Being There (1977) and Do the Right Thing (1989) are cited as examples demonstrating the power of images over reality. Censorship of stories containing voilence as a necessary element in fictional films and television is argued against. Brechtian learning/teaching plays and distancing techniques are cited to demonstrate that illusions are part of our reality and can be used to reveal how social and political representations are constructed.

by Pamela Tarlow-Calder

Faculty of Education
University of British Columbia

Abstract

This paper contends that there exist a wealth of imagery, basically ignored within art curricula, that should be addressed and examined critically by teachers and students in art education. The paper also discusses typical and atypical imagery available for classroom critique, advocates a critical-reflective orientation to art criticism inquiry in light of prevalent social and interpersonal concerns and conclude with a discussion of student work created in response to the introduction of disturbing imagery in the classroom environment.