STORIES OF US: Creative & critical reflections on reclaiming the symbol as text in art and education in Oceania

Koya, Cresantia F. (2015) STORIES OF US: Creative & critical reflections on reclaiming the symbol as text in art and education in Oceania. UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The Arts and Indigenous knowledge continue to exist on the periphery in education and in national development discourse in the islands. In this presentation, I argue that the arts provide multiple benefits. In addition to the more obvious skills for livelihoods, Arts in Education offer a unique opportunity for young Pacific islanders to develop creative and critical thinking. I also present Indigenous heritage arts as critical epistemological sites. These reference points act as windows into life-philosophies or ways of being, history, genealogy, socio-cultural status, spirituality and relationships of the cultural community in which they exist. They are useful markers for reinforcing teaching and learning through story-telling, observation, imitation, repetition and fine-tuning of skills overtime within specific cultural contexts. Over the years, my reflections as an artist, poet, and educator have seen the lines between symbol, text and metaphor converge within these cultural spaces. In bringing the non-formal social cultural contexts and pedagogies into the formal school curriculum and processes, we may reclaim education for a reality of our own making where we may truly thrive in the 21st Century and beyond, while owning our collective and individual truth(s). This presentation is delivered in three parts. It includes a brief introduction to symbol as textual language followed by a discussion of who is telling our stories and how they choose to do so; and, a summary of the role of the writer in re-presenting Stories of Us to the world. I conclude with a few examples of critical and creative works by Pacific islanders themselves in representing contextual truths within believable worlds of Oceania.

Item Type:	Other
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology P Language and Literature > PR English literature
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > School of Education
Depositing User:	Cresantia Koya-Vaka'uta
Date Deposited:	23 May 2016 03:29
Last Modified:	23 May 2016 03:29
URI:	http://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/8932

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