ABSTRACT
1993, declared the International Year of Indigenous People by UNICEF, is an appropriate time to look at the ways in which the arts of indigenous people are mediated in the curriculum. In this article I attempt to present some dilemmas faced by educators in confronting this issue and offer a personal perspective as a teacher educator in Australia. As an Australian, my experience has been more directly linked with Aboriginal culture, though I believe the issues are pertinent to most indigenous cultures.
In recent years, criticism of programs involving indigenous arts has been severe, leaving many educators with the feeling that “they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t” become involved in such programs. The charge of ethnocentrism in relation to such programs is examined and found to have considerable substance. Activities selected from some Australian and North American programs are presented to highlight the problems involved. Other programs which show a sensitivity to the integrity of a culture and an awareness of children’s needs are also discussed.
In an attempt to provide a more balanced viewpoint I have included several other perspectives on this issue: that of Ms Bronwyn Bancroft, renowned Aboriginal artist and those of two Aboriginal educators from the Aboriginal Early Childhood Services Support group within the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, NSW Australia. Ms Bancroft chose to comment directly on the article (see footnotes). The views of Ms Jo Pender and Mr Ross Hughes appear in the Appendix 1.
