Imaginative thinking: addressing social justice issues through MovieMaker

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the experiences of aspiring school leaders who utilized artmaking (in this case, photography, poetry, music, collage, and short films) through Microsoft MovieMaker as a means for addressing injustices within surrounding school communities. The paper aims to explore how aspiring school leaders understood contemporary curriculum issues within increasingly culturally diverse school communities in the USA. Design/methodology/approach -This two-year qualitative study embedded in grounded theory examined the experiences of aspiring school leaders who utilized artmaking (in this case short films through Microsoft MovieMaker) to examine contemporary curriculum issues within surrounding school communities. This study is conducted within the naturalistic tradition. Findings -The significance of artmaking encourages participants to visually articulate the lived realities of disenfranchised populations. Participants engage in artmaking experience self-transformation and a calling to encouraging human agency. Originality/value -In the wake of addressing issues of social justice, the highly charged emotions associated with addressing such issues is evident in the range of emotions that surface including, anger, fear, intimidation, deep sorrow, resentment, joy, and others. Very little scholarship exists for aspiring school leaders who confront issues of social justice in relation to the intensity of emotions and their work.

Artmaking as Sensemaking: A Conceptual Model to Promote Social Justice and Change

“…The increased attention to understand school leaders and their capacity to engage in social justice and equity-oriented work (see Bogotch and Shields, 2014;Theoharis, 2007) aligns with arts-based principles centered on understanding sensory ways of knowing. Therefore, artmaking is as an experiential mode of inquiry that reveals insights and ways of understanding that impact school leaders' capacities for knowing (e.g., Boske, 2009Boske, , 2011Boske, , 2012Boske & Liedel, 2017;Cahnmann-Taylor & Siegesmund, 2008;Dewey, 1934;Eisner, 2002bEisner, , 2008. These ways of knowing find their roots in expressive art therapies, which can be categorized with movement, dance, art, drama, performance, and music therapies (see Rogers, 1993).…”

“…Furthermore, artmaking provides essential tools for expressive purposes with spaces to construct meaning making through the senses. Artmaking as sensemaking, therefore, deepens school leaders' ways of knowing and responding to school communities, especially those who live on the margins (e.g., Boske, 2009).…”

The Power of Artmaking to Deepen Ways of Knowing and Responding to Injustices

“…Artmaking, however, has slowly made its way to the field of education and school leadership. The process has the capacity to play a pivotal role in affording educators and leaders opportunities to work with their school communities, heal, and address injustices they face (see Boske, 2009Boske, , 2011Boske, , 2012. Artmaking as sensemaking affords those who serve school communities with opportunities to make meaning from their experiences and create new ways of knowing and being.…”

“…As an educator within urban K-12 school communities as well as preparing school leaders in higher education, aspiring school leaders have the capacity to recognize and address, through artmaking (see Boske, 2009), the influence of embedded cultural deficit-laden beliefs, practices, and policies. School leaders not only come to understand these beliefs as detrimental; they realize, if not more so, the extent these oppressive beliefs are often even more impactful than material inequalities (see Boske, 2011).…”

“…The increased attention to understand school leaders and their capacity to engage in social justice and equity-oriented work (see Bogotch, 2014;Theoharis, 2007) aligns with arts-based principles centered on understanding sensory ways of knowing. Therefore, artmaking is an experiential mode of inquiry that reveals insights and ways of understanding that impact school leaders' capacities for knowing (e.g., Boske, 2009Boske, , 2011Boske, , 2012Cahnmann-Taylor & Siegesmund, 2008;Dewey, 1934;Eisner, 2002bEisner, , 2008. These ways of knowing find their roots in expressive art therapies, which can be categorized with movement, dance, art, drama, performance, and music therapies (see Rogers, 1993).…”