The coloniality of language and pedagogy: decolonising the Fine Art crit?

The starting point for this presentation is a decolonising arts education collaboration emerging from institutional research exploring the creative and educational potential of students engaging in fine art courses in creative higher education. Drawing on Hymes’ (1980) four stage framework for institutional research seeking change, the pedagogic and communicative context for this seminar presentation is the Fine Art crit. The crit in Fine Art can be seen as a nexus where art pedagogy and art practices, past and present, converge in discussions around student artworks. With a focus on interactional data and practices developed from doing and organising crits as part of Fine Art teaching and learning, Victoria, an applied linguist and institutional researcher, and Katrine, an artist, art academic and researcher, discuss the crit and what it might mean to deconstruct the crit from a decolonial perspective. They argue there are tensions between art tutors as authority figures with expert knowledge and the democratic and inclusive ideal of dialogic talk rooted in Western pedagogic traditions. By considering the crit through a decolonising lens they draw attention to how we may be able to critically connect with and challenge the colonial practices that are specific to (fine) art education.

Seminar Series presentation with Dr Victoria Odeniyi, University of the Arts, London, and Dr Katrina Hjelde, University of Bergen, Norway. For The University of Jyväskylä’s Department of Language and Communication Studies Seminar Series.