Abstract

This thesis provides an account of my action research project, teaching photography to teens within an upstart, Montreal-based, cross-cultural community art education program. Narrative is employed to illuminate emergent findings through my telling of key events. Within this project, my role includes organizing the new media art component, while I also maintain a responsibility for mentoring and teaching the photography focus group--wherein my primary research focus lies. In the dual role of mentor and teacher, I collaborate with the participants to co-create a series of ever-adapting weekly sessions following a modified action-research model. Together, the youth of Crossing Cultures and I discuss the meaning of culture. The youth are then encouraged to create artwork responding to these discussions or representing stories from cross-cultural interviews. The teens are free to choose whether to follow the suggested outline or to pursue their own ideas in this focused, but non-restrictive environment. The resulting images, dialogue, and actions raise questions about where teens' artistic interests lie, and what sort of culture first and second generation Canadian teens (and recent immigrants) identify with, and why. Photography provides the teens with a place to capture their experience, but are they willing to use it to investigate their family heritage and the cultures of others? The analysis includes: "Culture. What does it mean, and to whom?" "Art education for identity formation," "Teaching meaningful photography," "Collaborative teaching and learning: a community-classroom mentorship model," and "Organization, partnerships, and relationships in crossing cultures and community art education."