We The People: Immigration Counter-Narratives in the High School Visual Arts Classroom

Alisha Mernick

doi:10.5195/rt.2021.884

Abstract

Immigrant students are deeply impacted by the xenophobic dominant narratives about immigration in the United States today, and are at risk of developing a deficit mindset about their own cultures. Our classrooms can serve as spaces of resistance to anti-immigrant and neo-nativist values by intentionally raising student critical consciousness about these oppressive forces, and centering our student’s lived experiences and funds of knowledge in the curriculum. This article looks at one high-school arts curriculum unit prompting students to critically analyze the dominant narratives about immigration, interview real immigrants in their lives, and create a counter-narrative art work for public display. The aim for this project was to give immigrant students a space to process, analyze, and counter the xenophobic narratives surrounding them. Summary of the unit plan, student work samples, classroom culture, and alumni testimonials are included.

Highlights

For the last decade, I have taught High School Visual Art in the Pico Union neighborhood of Los Angeles, a primarily black and brown immigrant community
Growing up in a primarily white area, the little I learned about my Iranian heritage came from a handful of old family photographs, and the everpresent American media
I assumed the photos of my mother in college, surrounded by unveiled women in miniskirts carrying stacks of books, were just an anomaly. These falsehoods, and to critically question what American visual culture and media had taught me about my people

Summary

Introduction

I have taught High School Visual Art in the Pico Union neighborhood of Los Angeles, a primarily black and brown immigrant community. We The People: Immigration Counter-Narratives in the High School Visual Arts Classroom by Alisha Mernick Trump’s presidential campaign was centering overtly racist and violent rhetoric about immigrants, and these themes were already emerging in student artwork and class conversation.

Results

Conclusion