Throughout the current REF period, research, written papers and presentations, on philosophical and social contexts to art education in the HE sector. The work is a reflection of longstanding research interests in finding contemporary contexts for Yoruba, ancient Indian (Vedantist) concepts of the self, philosophy of education and critical theory.

May 2010
"Towards a Curriculum of Consciousness: "An African and Asian Interface for New Philosophy of Art and Contemporary Cultural Practice, Tested Through Action Research"
Abstract: "4 Minds" is a trans- disciplinary pedagogic action research project taking place at Glasgow School of Art in affiliation with Goldsmiths College University of London. Seven colleagues are testing Ranjana Thapalyal’s thesis which aims to develop self reflective approaches to art and art education, based on a deconstruction and selection of Hindu and Yoruba philosophical theories. Two key problems are identified: firstly the ambivalent position in which Higher Education Art School pedagogy finds itself in the fall out of post modern discourse now deeply embedded in contemporary culture; secondly the attendant difficulty in overt espousal of skill based or socially and ethically aligned work, in favour of more theoretically engaged but potentially self alienating work.
The thesis proposes that these problems be tackled via a conscious harnessing of the critical rigour of post structural logic with the flexible and multidisciplinary nature of two of the world’s most ancient thought systems, chosen because of their dynamic concepts of self -knowledge and social context. The danger of a proselytising religious nuancing is pre-empted by highlighting the inferred self questioning nature of the thought systems themselves, and their evident insistence on hermeneutic function and individual human agency, leading to the
Curriculum of Consciousness.
Canada International Conference on Education, Toronto.
An international conference inviting interdisciplinary and discipline specific research in education.
(postponed from 26-28 April 2010 to 24-26 May 2010)

CICE 2010 was funded by Palgrave McMillan; The Infomatics Society; Correctional Service, Canada; SAP;World Scientific Journals

Paper published in refereed conference proceedings May 2010
CICE-2010_Proceedings.pdf

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