ABSTRACT
Martiniquan psychiatrist and revolutionary Frantz Fanon wrote on the genocidal construction of ‘white’ and ‘black’ within the European colonial frame. He observed that whiteness – with its economic, military, cultural and political power – is a colonial mentality that assumes its superiority. A feature of whiteness is therefore maintaining an appearance of worldly confidence, of certainty, and of rightfulness. In 2018, US art educationalist of colour Amelia Kraehe and colleagues edited the weighty ‘Palgrave Handbook of Race and Education in the Arts’. This publication features thirty-three chapters from authors across the arts, investigating the concept of the ‘arts as white property’ in their fields. In art education, University of the Arts London’s students and staff have been at the forefront of pushing for change. As George Yancy writes, remaining ‘unsutured involves the continuous process of renewal and commitment’, and in this lies the energy necessary to build an art education for and in social justice.
