The response of art teachers in Ghana to Ghana's cultural policy

Acquah, Ebenezer Kwabena

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/78622 Copy

Description

Title

The response of art teachers in Ghana to Ghana's cultural policy

Author(s)

Acquah, Ebenezer Kwabena

Issue Date

2015-04-17

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Lucero, Jorge

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Lucero, Jorge

Committee Member(s)

• Parsons, Michael J.
• Saul, Mahir
• Lugo, Alejandro

Department of Study

Art & Design

Discipline

Art Education

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• contemporary
• globalization
• hybridity
• multicultural
• policy
• post-colonialism

Abstract

The focus of this research was to investigate the response of high school art teachers in Ghana to the country’s cultural policy of preserving Ghanaian cultural values. The study was done in Ghana by interviewing ten high school art teachers, conducting a survey of fifty high school art teachers, examining students’ projects, and taking a cursory look at the 2004 cultural policy document of Ghana. The theoretical frameworks were mainly based on post-colonialism and multicultural education, with a focus on the concepts of ambivalence, hybridity, globalization, and identity formation. The study involved a qualitative inquiry approach with some descriptive statistics to illustrate the context and picture of the data that reflect the responses of the participants on the preservation of cultural values. The major findings of the study reveal, (a) a support for the preservation of cultural values, while outmoded ones need to be abolished, (b) a call for a review of the cultural policy to meet changing demands of time, (c) that the cultural policy epitomizes a hybrid of both public and private ownership of cultural capital and practices, (d) that contemporary Ghanaian culture defines the curriculum and pedagogical practice of the art teacher with little impact from the cultural policy. These findings reflect a growing change in Ghanaian peoples’ values and identities in the educational landscape of Ghana. I recommend that a national discourse analysis be organized on the cultural policy of Ghana to further examine its relevance in relation to transformation in global technological and educational developments.

Graduation Semester

2015-5

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/78622

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2015 Ebenezer Acquah

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