Here, I reflect on bell hooks’ chapter Talking Art as the Spirit Moves Us (1995). hooks’ (1995) theme of needing to be initiated in order to see, and indeed see past internalised cultural biases, resonates with Stuart Hall’s (2013) discussion of cultural competencies. I discuss the latter concept with students in visual analysis lectures. Hall (2013) stresses that people bring different knowledge to their ‘readings’ of culture, while hooks (1995) less neutrally reminds us that ignorance can be dangerous or harmful in uneven societies. Both prompt me to consider the different knowledges of students, while hooks (1995) offers me angles with which to encourage student reflection on ethics and positionality.
In discussing Edward Lucie-Smith (1994), hooks (1995) highlights the imposition of value systems formed in, and imposed from, a position of dominance. The question of value, how and who accords it and to what, is the subject of discussions with students about the work of Pierre Bourdieu (2010 [1979], 1993). While Bourdieu (2010 [1979], 1993), is usually discussed in terms of class and cultural production, hooks (1995) directs me to think about how value is distributed in uneven societies, especially in relation to race/ethnicity.
hooks (1995) notes the continued politics of domination and the centring of white viewpoints, which UAL’s commitment to decolonising the curriculum (UAL online and zines) aims to address. As UAL’s notes on decolonising highlight, by foregrounding Frantz Fanon (2008 [1952]), there is a relationship between the action of the coloniser and the response of the colonised. In terms of my teaching practice, this centres me and my actions as interlinked with those of my students and their experience. In this case, the potential for racial (and other) internalised biases.
I acknowledge that ‘[i]t is not easy to change one’s own teaching practice, as teachers often teach in ways they were taught’ (Whittaker and Broadhead, 2022, p. 68). My student experience is be rooted in politics of the past, as well as being different from the cultural experience and needs of students today. In response, I remind myself of the privileges I have as a white man in a position of power as a lecturer and reflect on how I appear to students from diverse backgrounds and who are overwhelmingly younger than me.
I have tried to diversify the communities and cultures I discuss with students. I worried this may seem tokenistic, an issue hooks (1995) highlights, but has proved worthwhile. Where possible, I have also decentred myself by engaging diverse academics, allowing a greater number of students to see aspects of their identities reflected in speakers.
On the theme of identification with the self-like, hooks (1995) notes disidentification. I associate this term with José Estaban Muñoz (1999) and queer or intersectional gaze theory (Evans and Gamman, 1995). Other points within the chapter also resonate with queer studies. Like hooks (1995), I highlight the contrary responses or strategies to systems of oppression, but with reference to lesbian and gay movements, which aimed at assimilation or, to use hook’s term, revolt. hooks (1995) points me towards prompting students to contemplate whether and how far either strategy can be right or wrong, and the potential for stereotyping any strategy within the mainstream.
hooks (1995) notes the difficulty of making change without conforming to stereotypes, while operating in the dominant culture that confers value. This correlates with Eve Kosofky Sedgewick’s (1994 [1990]) explanation of the double bind placed on queer people who are silenced but induced to confess identity.
Such binds are echoed in teaching experience. Some dissertation students have wanted to question why they are encouraged to plumb their cultural heritage for design inspiration. Other students have used their dissertation voluntarily to explore cultural heritage or sexuality. It reinforces for me, the importance of not making assumptions about students’ cultural backgrounds, competencies and interests. Much like hooks’ (1995) understanding that the actual content of an exhibition differed from its advertising, I am reminded to listen carefully to what students want to achieve in their work, rather than impose my ideas about what constitutes a ‘good’ dissertation (etc.), while helping them meet learning outcomes.
Bibliography
Bourdieu, P. (1993) The field of cultural production. Edited by R. Johnson. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (2010 [1979]) Distinction. Translated from the French by R. Nice, 1984. London: Routledge.
Evans, C. and Gamman, L. (1995) ‘The gaze revisited, or reviewing queer viewing’, in Burston, P. and Richardson, C. (eds.) A queer romance: lesbians, gay men and popular culture. London: Routledge.
Fanon, F. (2008 [1952]) Black skin, white masks. London: Pluto.
Hall, S. (2013) ‘The work of representation’, in Hall, S., Evans, J. and Nixon, S. (eds.) Representation. 2nd edn. London: Sage.
hooks, b. (1995) ‘Talking art as the spirit moves us’, in Art on my mind: visual politics. New York: The New Press. pp. 101-107
Kosofsky Sedgwick, E. (1994 [1990]) Epistemology of the closet. London: Penguin.
Lucie-Smith, E. (1994) Race, sex, and gender in contemporary art. London: Art Books International ltd.
Muñoz, J. E. (1999) Disidentifications: queers of color and the performance of politics. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Whittaker, R. and Broadhead, S. (2022) ‘Disaggregating the Black student experience’, in Broadhead, S. (ed) Access and widening participation in arts higher education: practice and research. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
UAL: https://decolonisingtheartscurriculum.myblog.arts.ac.uk/