Failure as a Practice of Freedom: Reflections on Failures of Whiteness in College Art Pedagogy

Through a first-person narrative of learning through failure, this presentation frankly examines interconnected ways in which white power and privilege shape college art pedagogy and shares these failures of whiteness in order to instigate change in our field. Informed by critical race theory and focused on improving student experiences, this presentation explores generative notions of failure, including: examining entrenched, systemic inequities in college art pedagogy and their failure to serve students from marginalized communities; learning from personal failures of whiteness as a process of increasing racial literacy; and sharing leadership with students through active listening and culturally responsive teaching. The presentation is structured as a personal narrative that highlights salient personal failures of whiteness and my learning from them as a queer, white university art educator working with racially diverse students. I draw on my own experience as a way of modeling a particularly humbling and challenging process of personal and professional change for other college art educators who may be at different points in this journey. While this presentation begins with failure, it does not end there. Rather, failure is framed as an ongoing element in an iterative journey of racial learning and growth as a college art educator.