Art, Activism and Academia:!Blurring the Boundaries

Deborah BarndtFaculty of Environmental Studies

York University

PensadoraPolíticaPoeta

or….

Analyst, Activist, and Artist

!Transnational Research Story 1:!

The Tomasita Project

���The tomato !as a code of globalization

The NAFTA Journey !of the !

Corporate Tomato

Builds on and reinforces !north-south inequities

Interdisciplinary tomato

Production/Consumption: Distancing

Biodiversity/Cultural Diversity:���Uniformity and Homogenization

Work/Technology: Flexible Labour

Health/Environment: ���Ecological/Holistic Health

Positionality and self-reflexivity

Globalization from above

Wal-Mart���the new icon

Photos not allowed!

Adbusting: ���Making ���workers���visible

Kids remake ads

Corporate control of image(s)

Globalization !from below

Interlocking analysis of power

Levels ���of ���

oppression

Border Crossers:���Transnational

migrant labour

Women solidarity

Tomato consciousness:���Plants as living entities

The Other Globalization

LEVELS OF ACTION

•  Individual critical thoughts and actions• Local/global education• Collective action and alternatives• Transnational coalitions

SEEDS OF HOPE!!

MEXICO

Environmental and ���Human Rights Activists

Returning stories to their source

El Campo No Aguanta Más (The Countryside Won’t Take It Any More)

Maize Movements: ���Defending Biodiversity from NAFTA Corn

Unitierra - ���Indigenous university

Zapatista movement

SEEDS OF HOPE!!

UNITED STATES

Mexican migrants take on��� Fast Food giants

SEEDS OF HOPE!!

CANADA

FoodShare:Telling Food and

Eating Stories

FoodShare: ���Seeds of Our City

FoodShare���School Salad Bars ���

Transforming University Food Services

GLOCAL RESEARCH STORY 3!!

The FoodShed Project!The Innovative Community of Food Practice !

in the Southern Ontario Foodshed!(2008 - )

University-community collaboration

Organizational Ecology

Generational Renewal

Cultural Renewal

Our approach ���integrates

•  Participatory action research•  Popular education•  Community arts

Photo and video documentation, digital storytelling

Music, performance ���and popular theatre

Community murals and ���Food and diaspora installation

Transnational Research Story 2: !The VIVA! Project!

! Creative Tensions of !

Community Arts Practice !in Social Movements of the Americas!

VIVA! Project !Exchange of community arts in the Americas

Creative Tensions of Community Arts

•  Process/product•  Aesthetics/ethics•  Cultural reclamation/ cultural reinvention•  Spiritual/political•  Body/earth

RECOVERING HISTORY:

From Indigenous to diasporic contexts

Kuna Children’s ���Art Project���

CEASPA, Panama

From the islandsTo the city

Personal Legacy Project���Diane Roberts ���(CAO, York)

���Recovering cultural memory���

through embodied spiritual practices

RECREATING IDENTITIES:

From the Atlantic Coast of Nicaraguato the Pacific Coast of the U.S.

BILWIVISION ���Community Television ��� URRACAN University��� Bilwi, Nicaragua

Representating local issues to stimulate���collective action

Artsbridge (UCLA)���Los Angeles, California

���Embodied learning ���in schools

TRANSFORMING PUBLIC SPACE:

From marketplaces to neighbourhoods

Bridge of One Hair���Jumblies Theatre /York University, Toronto

Different ���cultural aesthetics

Cultural Marketplace ���Mexican Institute for Community Development Guadalajara, Mexico

Struggle for public space ���for diverse groups engaged ���in social movements

NURTURING NEW GENERATIONS:

Extending artistic practice

Telling Our Stories���Catalyst Centre, Toronto

Kids take power in haircutting performance

Painting by Listening���Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana,���Ciudad de México

Community Arts Practice

A joint certificate of the Faculty of Environmental Studies

and the Faculty of Fine Arts

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

•  Community-based cultural productions in fourth year

•  Placements with local cultural agencies and community organizations

•  International internships in Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Argentina

PROGRAM PATH

•  12 credits of core coursesYear 2: ENVS/FACS 2122 3.0 Community Arts for Social Change

Year 3: ENVS/FACS 3122 3.0 Preparatory Workshop in Community Arts

Year 4: ENVS/FACS 4122 6.0 Practicum/Seminar in Community Arts

•  12 electives: one from each of 4 categoriesCommunity and Popular EducationIntroductory Studio Course in an Artistic DisciplineCritical Social AnalysisAdvanced Community-Related Arts Practice

Master’s in Environmental Studies Artists/activists/academics

York University’s Eco Art and Media Festival www.yorku.ca/ecoart