Art, Activism and Academia:!
Blurring the Boundaries
Deborah Barndt
Faculty of Environmental Studies
York University
Pensadora
Política
Poeta
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 islands
To the city
Personal Legacy Project���
Diane Roberts ���
(CAO, York)
���
Recovering cultural memory���
through embodied spiritual practices
RECREATING IDENTITIES:
From the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua
to 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 courses
Year 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 categories
Community and Popular Education
Introductory Studio Course in an Artistic Discipline
Critical Social Analysis
Advanced Community-Related Arts Practice
Master’s in Environmental Studies Artists/activists/
academics
York University’s Eco Art and Media Festival
www.yorku.ca/ecoart
