Riivald, Kristiina H.
(2024)
Cultivating Appalachian Community and Creating Counter Narratives Through Arts-Based Pedagogies.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This dissertation of practice is a case study of an arts-based strategy implemented during the fall semester 2018 in the course Women in Appalachia, a Women’s and Gender Studies course taught in an Appalachian higher education institution. The arts-based strategy was an avenue for
students to create visual counter narratives through art and to illustrate Appalachian community wealth in opposition to the Trump Country narrative circulating in mainstream media outlets at the time.
The case study participants were college-aged students who had self-selected the course and identified as Appalachian women. The students, wanting a tangible way to counter negative Appalachian narratives through art and community building, suggested and co-created with the instructor, the arts-based assignment. The study is anchored by three research questions: (1) How does the arts-based strategy improve the sense of community within the classrooms? (2) How does the arts-based strategy change students’ connections and my connections with West Virginia and
Appalachia? (3) How does the arts-based strategy amplify student voices through its multimedia/modal approach?
Through autoethnographic qualitative inquiry, I explore the application of Tara Yosso’s community cultural wealth (2005) and Tarra Yosso and David G. Solórzano’s counter storytelling (2002) theoretical framework to an Appalachian context of identity and culture. Using principles of autoethnography, arts-based practices, and curation, I collect data from autoethnographic vignettes, artifacts of student visual artwork and written artist statements, and participant observation. The findings illustrate that counter narratives did engage aspects of community
cultural wealth-- specifically those of resistance capital and familial capital--particularly the roles of mothers in fostering Appalachian familial capital. The findings also support that the arts-based strategies did improve sense of community within the classroom, evoked an emotional connection to the land and people of West Virginia, and amplified student voice. Student voice was amplified
by centering the participant agency in the assignment proposal, process, and product. Providing art as an alternative means of communicating knowledge instead of relying on written or oral communication alone also served to amplify student voice.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
| Creators | Email | Pitt Username | ORCID  |
|---|
| Riivald, Kristiina H. | KHR15@pitt.edu | KHR15 | |
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| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
8 July 2024 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
18 April 2024 |
| Approval Date: |
8 July 2024 |
| Submission Date: |
20 June 2024 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
140 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Education > Administrative and Policy Studies |
| Degree: |
EdD - Doctor of Education |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Appalachia, Appalachian cultural community wealth, art making, classroom community, student voice, West Virginia, autoethnography, autoethnographic vignettes, counter narratives, arts-based strategies, arts-based pedagogies, Trump Country narrative, Women's and Gender Studies, cultural community wealth, higher education, teaching |
| Date Deposited: |
08 Jul 2024 18:05 |
| Last Modified: |
08 Jul 2024 18:05 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/46594 |
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