Cultural Complexities
Our World, Our Say: Leveraging Arts to Promote Health Equity in Partnership with Youth Impacted by HIV/AIDS in Hai Phong, Vietnam View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lesley Harris, Thang Nguyen Duy, Sara Williams, Doroty Sato, Victory Osezua, Kyoungmee Byun, Andrew Winters, Rebecka Bloomer
Since 1990, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) epidemic in northern Vietnam has increased the number of orphaned children. Vietnam’s adult-led national response to addressing the needs of orphaned children has emphasized child protection, education, reproductive health, and HIV prevention. Limited research exists centering youth voices and input concerning current intervention strategies. Youth participatory action research (YPAR), including art-based approaches, seeks to amplify and empower youth in social change. This study uses YPAR with youth attending a program at HIV and Health Care Support Center (HHCSC) and aims to 1) better understand the lived experiences and conceptualizations of health equity by youth, 2) describe youth-identified risks to health and wellbeing, and 3) provide youth with tools to advocate, educate, and enact social change relative to their needs. Using arts-based research methods and critical conversations, we collected demographic and qualitative data from focus groups with adolescents. Forty-five adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 participated in summer camps in 2019 and 2023, which focused on art making/photovoice and the youth-identified topics of environmental risks, interpersonal violence, child abuse, substance misuse, HIV, child labor, reproductive health, and "Our City." Focus groups and journaling identified macro-level concepts of importance for youth: corruption in the criminal legal system, difficulties with laws and enforcement, lack of child protection, and exploitation. Youth developed social change strategies, including community campaigns, vocational training, and using social media to promote change. Global art-advocacy exhibitions compiling youth art and narratives raised awareness for social action.
Access, Inclusion, and Gochō Shigeo's Radical Everyday Japan
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Philip Charrier
This paper considers the 1960s-era photography of the disabled photographer Gochō Shigeo (1946-1983) relative to the hierarchies and biases of period Japanese culture. It shows that values and expected behaviours of the time excluded photographers with disabilities. Contemporary writing on Gochō reflects this bias. It portrays him as a tragic figure for whom photography provided a means of exploring his disability-conditioned identity through photographic encounters with non-disabled others. I revise this interpretation by presenting Gochō as a pivotal figure in the post-1960s shift from doctrinaire social realist photography to more pluralistic modes of documentary representation. His photographs propound that public participation can take quieter, more discreet forms than the spectacular 'big politics' that dominate the news. Such activity is embedded in the everyday and characterized by a citizenship ethos that is comparatively tranquil, tolerant, and good-natured. In Gochō's photographs, governments and their agencies, capitalist entities, political parties, unions, student organizations, the military, and the police are displaced as the institutions defining political inclusion and participation. When they intrude into the ordinary lives of the subjects he depicts, it is indirectly and peripherally. As theorized by Maurice Blanchot, the everyday's small, routine, seemingly inconsequential actions evade systems of representation, regulation, and repression, serving as agents of disorder. This whiff of disorder made Gochō's photographs threatening to Japan's photographic establishment and appealing to subsequent photographers, who likewise challenged social strictures on access, inclusion, and participation in Japan.
Examining Art Forms for Cultivating National Identity in Early Childhood Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jessie Ming Sin Wong
As the Hong Kong government increases attention on cultivating national identity in youth, it is essential to understand current practices. This study analyzed over 300 teaching resources from seven Hong Kong kindergartens serving students from diverse cultural backgrounds. Materials included instructional videos, student artwork, and lesson plans addressing national identity through various art forms. Results showed that visual art genres like drawing, painting, and crafts were most prominently used to convey symbolic cultural imagery. Performing arts such as music, dance, drama, and storytelling regularly supplemented lessons, often highlighting traditions from Chinese festivals and folklore. Literary works through poems and stories were also featured regularly in the curricula. Activities primarily centered on developing an understanding of Chinese culture, history, and symbols. Both Chinese and non-Chinese children participated together in celebratory activities and patriotic expression through artistic engagement. Notably, kindergartens with higher proportions of non-Chinese students incorporated a wider array of artistic depictions of culture beyond China. They recognized and celebrated additional national affiliations and global traditions. Educators can foster nuanced identity exploration by thoughtfully employing diverse, inclusive art forms that respect students’ varied backgrounds. This research provides meaningful insights for navigating increasingly complex discussions of national belonging through developmentally-appropriate arts integration in early education settings.
