Chapter 4: Decolonization: A Metaphorical Conundrum

The idea of decolonization is a powerful one; it evokes imaginings of justice and empowerment, of setting wrongs to right. It is an idea that is hotly contested in how it is used in education and in the art world. The paradigm of social justice art education calls for a critical conversation on object and meaning making in fine art as well as visual culture (Bastos, 2010) towards a critical understanding of how power, technology, human identity and activity, and human and environmental life and their rights are connected. It acknowledges the inherently political nature and implications of social life and sets artmaking and education of art and its making upon this premise (Garber, 2004; Quinn, Hochtritt, & Ploof, 2011).