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Aesthetics: A central issue in community arts, ranging from philosophical evaluations of what is beautiful (e.g., classical Western approaches that “universalize” the criteria for worthy art and privilege the individual as artist) to other traditions and culturally diverse aesthetics , such as those that consider the aesthetic and spiritual to be intertwined. Alternative media: A strategic challenge to mass media outlets (dominated by corporate interests) to raise the visibility of diverse perspectives for social and political change and to serve the interests of communities. Antiracism: Form of political action to combat structural racism and oppression reproduced through historically constructed political, economic, and social inGlossary Janna Gorham and Deborah Barndt stitutions. An antiracist perspective affirms different epistemologies, or ways of knowing, and intercultural leadership among youth and adults. It also aims to get White people to acknowledge their own privilege, to become allies, and to work for anti-racist social change. Arts-based and arts-informed research: These models explore alternative processes and representational forms in academic discourse—constructing a different path through art by combining inquiry, social engagement , and community activism. Autonomous community or region: Refers to an area where Indigenous and historically marginalized populations are reclaiming land and their own governance This glossary attempts to explain some of the key terms found in this book. However, we caution against taking any of these as firm or fixed definitions. We would have preferred to construct a genealogy,1 tracing the shifting and even contradictory meanings of these concepts from one place and time to another; a genealogical approach contends that language cannot be understood in isolation from the contexts or ecologies from which they arise. Just as education is not neutral, neither are words, especially what Raymond Williams coined as “key words,”2 which reflect political and philosophical struggles. We emphasize here the specific interpretation of these concepts in the VIVA! project, and encourage readers to consider the multiple and potential meanings of these words in their own contexts and to engage in ongoing discussions about their ideological implications. structures and processes; among VIVA! projects, for example, BilwiVision strengthens the autonomous region of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast and Painting by Listening reinforces Indigenous self-determination in Zapatista autonomous zones. Collaboration: A central principle and practice in community arts, referring to different levels of working together creatively: from artists collaborating with each other and with grassroots groups, to collaboration among community members as they develop their own artistic practice. Colonization: Referring to the historical process of the occupation of land and genocide of Indigenous peoples and nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa by European nations beginning in the sixteenth century, and continuing in multiple forms in the present. Community arts: Encompassing a wide range of practices and traditions, it engages people in representing their collective identities, histories, and aspirations in multiple forms of expression. For VIVA!, it involves reclaiming the right and capacity of everyone to express themselves through their own cultural and hybrid forms. Community-based research: This collaborative research acknowledges historical inequities between communities and universities and promotes communitybased knowledge production processes for a richer and more socially useful understanding of the world around us. In the VIVA! project it entails partnering locally and transnationally to collectively produce knowledge and to share the results of locally grounded participatory action research across distinct contexts. Community cultural development: A range of cultural capacity-building practices undertaken by artists who collaborate with community members to express themselves through arts and communications media, while working toward social change. Distinguished from more conservative and “top-down” forms of arts dissemination. Conjunctural analysis: An approach to analyzing the interrelation and balance of forces (political, economic, ideological) at play in any particular moment in time; coupled with structural analysis, conjunctural analysis aims to identify the specific free space that the moment offers to act strategically to forward processes of structural change. Conscientization: Coined by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, concientización is the popular education process through which individuals situate their personal experiences in larger social structures, identify their common ground, and work collectively to change the oppressive conditions of their lives. Counter-hegemony: Resistance and struggle for change among marginalized peoples in the cultural sphere: by challenging and transforming dominant hegemony , popular education and community arts are approaches to developing critical social consciousness and collective action. Creative tensions: The strains and challenges arising in community-based art practices that create points of resistance between issues of process/product, aesthetics /ethics, cultural reclamation / cultural reinvention, spiritual...

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