Rationale for Project and Product:
1. Purpose of the Project/Product This project is to explore MU international student’s identity through a/r/tography, a methodology which does not create the invention while it does help people gain new understanding based on existing knowledge (Irwin, 2013). In terms of this methodology, the purpose of this project is to provide a safe space for MU international students to explore their own identities by creating videos (documentary) with their stories, and to gain a new understanding towards themselves during the process of exploration. In fact, the process of making video is paralleled with the reality that they’ve encountered. Their stories that they have created are not just a means of expressing themselves, but also a way of recognizing and thinking about the real world. As Aufderheide states, “A documentary film tells a story about real life, with claims to truthfulness.” This second purpose of this project is to manifest MU international students’ emotion, attitude, and value in a dynamic way. Participants (MU international students) “bring their unschooled and often unsanctioned literacy practices into academic settings create a culture in which unseen and unheard stories can be told (Jocius 2016).” Finally, their voices would be heard by MU students, faculty, staff, even Columbia residents. Hopefully, this project would become a bridge across among different cultures. We embrace diversity and diversity makes our culture prosperous. 2. Why is this a significant project and product? Globalization has had an impact on universities, discipline content, and the teaching and learning process (Jonrd, 2010). This globalized environment impacts many schools, including K-20 education, which attract huge international students studying in the U.S. United States is one of the most popular destinations for international students every year (Zong, J. & Batalove, J. 2016). In fact, international students in the U.S. are a minority on college campuses. According to the Open Doors: MIZZOU fast facts 2016 which is a report from the International Center, 2,990 students from 110 countries attended the University of Missouri in the academic year of 2015 -2016. The comparison between 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 is remarkable, the number of international students at Mizzou has declined considerably. The decline is 198 less (international students) compared to the academic year of 2015/2016, with Chinese students making up the majority of this number. It is important for the University of Missouri System to determine the cause of this decrease and how to recruit and to find a way to improve its reputation among foreign countries. In my opinion, in seeking the answers, it would be worthy to consider the environment, the campus itself, and the society of Columbia. Certainly, the big step which I think is the most important part is to establish a better relationship with international students, and to understand how they identity themselves, how they feel towards life here, and what they value most about their place in Columbia culture. In addition, study how they integrate across cultural boundaries. It is vital to give them opportunities for introspection, to explore themselves, and to voice and defend their personal identities and value systems. 3. Authentic Audience for the Product – Who will benefit and why? I believe that this project would be appealing, meaningful, and profound for MU international students firstly. Campus life is tense and fast, so sometimes we do not pay much attention to know ourselves in different perspectives. This project will be beneficial to participants who gradually get to know themselves during the process of attending this project. Certainly, participants would have their voice heard by creating documentaries, meanwhile, domestic students at MU would get to know their peers from different counties. MU faculty, staff would also hear international students’ personal voices. It is important for them to know international students’ conditions, feelings, life at MU with different voices, most importantly, it would be helpful for them to make decisions and policies about international students. Third, these documentaries would be perfect products for displaying MU current atmosphere and students’ features. It would be conducive to know some truths about international students for outsiders, especially when they only depend on mass media. Research Questions and sub questions The central research question is: How do Mizzou international students self-identify themselves in terms of nationality, culture, ethnicity and career in Columbia, Missouri? The following sub questions will further direct and guide the study:
Related Research: 1. Theoretical Framework Visual art researchers described the Internet with metaphors as a technology research tool (Dunn, 1996), community-building method (Krug, 1997), and interaction forum (Heise & Grandgenett, 1996). Stankiewicz (2004) reports technological usage for art learning, visual language functions, and especially visual literacy for social control and characterizes art-making as a way of providing social conformity rather than promoting social criticism. Krug (2004) claims that problems involved technological literacy, fluency with skills and knowledge, and integration that supports and enhances effective learning in and through the visual arts. All cultures are equal; diversity is an asset; cultures evolve and cannot be confined to boundaries; cultural processes are as important as products; and cultural forms of expression are effective means for social transformation. (Adams and Goldbard 2001:14) According to MU Campus Climate Research Study in September 2017, 73% of Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Student/Post-Doctoral Scholar respondents felt valued by University of Missouri-Columbia faculty while 71% felt valued by campus staff. 77% of Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Student/Post-Doctoral Scholar respondents felt valued by faculty in the classroom. 70% of Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Student/Post-Doctoral Scholar respondents had faculty whom they perceived as role models. 19% of respondents indicated that they personally had experience exclusionary intimidating, offensive, and/or hostile conduct. 26% noticed that the conduct was based on their gender/gender identity, 23% felt that it was based on their ethnicity, 21% felt that it was based on their position status, and 20% felt that it was based on their racial identity. By ethnicity, significant differences were noted in the percentages of Afficant/Black/African American (39%), Asian/Asian American (21%), Hispanic/Latin/Chican (25%), Multiracial Respondents (27%), Other Respondents of Color (24%) and White respondents (16%) who believed that they had experienced this conduct. According to the Open Doors: MIZZOU fast facts 2016 which is a report from the International Center at University of Missouri - Columbia, 1800 international students attended at the University of Missouri – Columbia in the academic year of 2008/2009, 1831 international students in 2009/2010, 1948 in 2010/2011, 2198 in 2011/2012, 2490 in 2012/2013, 2576 in 2013/2014, 2879 in 2014/2015, 2990 in 2015/2016. In the academic year of 2016/2017, there were 2792 international students from 110 foreign countries attending at MU. From this statistical data, we can see that the amount of international students was increasing during 2008 – 2015, while in 2016, the amount decreased a little bit. 2. Key Literature Areas to be included in annotated bibliography Wang, C. C., Cash, J. L., & Powers, L. S. (2000). Who knows the streets as well as the homeless? Promoting personal and community action through photovoice. Health Promotion Practice, 1(1), 81-89. Wang, Cash, & Powers (2000) use photovoice as a research method to explore people who are living at shelter. As authors state, “photovoice is an innovative participatory action research method based on health promotion principles and the theoretical literature on education for critical consciousness, feminist theory, and a community-based approach to documentary photography. (p. 81)” Authors believe that the photovoice concept and method enable people to create and discuss photographs as a means of catalyzing personal and community change. Irwin, R. L. (2004). A/r/tography: A Metonymic Metissage. In R. L. Irwin & A. de Cosson (Eds.), A/r/tography: Rendering self through arts-based living inquiry (pp. 27-38). Vancouver, BC: Pacific Educational Press. Rita Irwin is an artist, researcher, and teacher deeply committed to the arts and education at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In this article, the author introduces a/r/tography as a metaphor for informing artist-researcher-teacher identity, including self-realization, self-development and the relationship between the self and the outside world, and extends to the reflection on education and teaching as well as personal life through artistic and aesthetic approaches to self-consciousness in education and social phenomena. A/r/tography is a form of “living inquiry”. Art is not just a means of expressing itself, it is also a way of recognizing and thinking about the real world. Additionally, as a/r/tographers, they occupy “in-between” space. “Those living in the borderlands of a/r/t recognize the vitality of living in an in-between space.” This is an introduction to research novices as to what the a/r/tography is and how it works. Significantly, it builds up the foundation of a/r/tography as an approach which helps people gain new insights towards life through perceptual practices that reveal what was once hidden. Fail, H., Thompson, J., & Walker, G. (2004). Belonging, identity and third culture kids: Life histories of former international school students. Journal of Research in International Education, 3(3), 319-338. The authors are researchers, collaboratively use the data from eleven former international school students who all attended an international school between 20 and 50 years ago as a multiple case study. This study explores these former international students’ thoughts and feelings, covering emotional and relational issues such as sense of belonging, identity and the nature of relationships formed. The authors claim that these students are positive and enthusiastic about the advantages of their background and the ability it has given them to feel at home in different places and also to relate to other people like themselves. Moreover, they are no longer in a process of setting up a sense of identity or belonging but are reflecting on something that has been established during the course of their lives. This article is beneficial to me to explore MU international student identity since it gives me basic information about students who have spent a significant part of the developmental years in a culture other than the parents’ culture developing a sense of relationship to all of the cultures while not having full ownership in any and how they identify themselves because of this background. Most importantly, it is helpful for me to compare these kind participants with those participants who do not have these backgrounds, and it could generate some new findings. Haugh, M. (2008). The discursive negotiation of international student identities. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 29(2), 207-222. Michael Haugh, Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Queensland, Australia, has shed some light on the identity of international students in Australia. He collects data by interviewing international students from Korea, China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Russia and Chile. He claims research about identity has undergone a discursive turn in recent years, with a shift from conceptualising identity as an essentialistic, pre-existing construct that drives social interaction, to a more fluid and hybrid construct that is constituted through discourse. As a result, a number of recent studies investigating the construction of international student identities have supposedly adhered to this latter, postmodernist-inspired notion of identity in their analyses. However, upon closer examination, these studies appear to be premised on the assumption that what international students say can be equated with their identities, without critical attention being paid to the way in which identities emerge as a conjoint construct through interaction. In this paper, it is argued that identities are invariably jointly constructed by participants through discourse, even in interviews and focus groups where the researcher is ostensibly taking a neutral stance, and thus more attention needs to be paid to the ways in which identities are discursively negotiated through interaction Irwin, R. L., Bickel, B., Triggs, V., Springgay, S., Beer, R., Grauer, K., & ... Sameshima, P. (2009). The City of Richgate: A/r/tographic Cartography as Public Pedagogy. International Journal Of Art & Design Education, 28(1), 61-70. doi:10.1111/j.1476-8070.2009.01593.x The authors are researchers at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, use data from eight intergenerational immigrant families in The City of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada to examine their experiences and narratives through a community-engaged process that employed a/r/tography as a methodology. The study shows that culture and memory can be transformed and maintained. Site, home and location can be more than one place, and more likely somewhere in between. This research is precursive and unprecedented which supports my research topic – International Student Identity. It helps me understand a/r/tography and the practicalities of how to conduct a/r/tographical research. Tacchi, J. A. (2009). Finding a voice: Digital storytelling as participatory development in Southeast Asia. In Story circle: Digital storytelling around the world. Wiley-Blackwell. Tacchi collects data from 15 pre-existing local media in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia to explore how digital storytelling empower and affect the local context, and how both social and technological networks empower poor people to communicate their “voices” within and beyond marginalized communities. Tacchi explains that the definition of voice is broad, which means it can be about opportunity and agency to promote self-expression and advocacy, about access and the skills to use technologies and platforms for the distribution of a range of different voices. This study was divided into three phases. The first phase was training of trainers, where they trained members of the Finding a Voice sites through a series of workshops. The second phase was the local development of participatory content creation activities in each site. The third phase is concerned with strategies for distribution, which depends on the message and target audience. The author claims that digital storytelling can contribute to development agendas, and also can form an interesting component in participatory development in contexts. Räsänen, M. (2012). Cultural identity and visual multiliteracy. Visual culture: Readings. Evora: Research Centre of the University of Evora (CIEP) and Fundaēćo Eugénio de Almeida (FEA). (In print.). This article consists of broad definitions of visual culture and cultural identity. The author claims that different micro cultures are represented in the products of material culture, thus, it is significant to know how constructive dialogue between different cultural groups can be built through artworks and other visuals. Moreover, it is also important to know how students’ understanding of themselves and others can be supported through the interpretation of visual culture using artistic production as its main tool. Furthermore, the author talks about the factors affecting cultural identity, as well as multicultural identity. She believes that cultural identity is based on verbal, artistic, and other stories created in a certain time and place. Rituals, clothing, and images mediate traditions that connect an individual to a group. Additionally, she asserts that representation is a useful concept for understanding the relationship between the individual and culture. Representation refers to all verbal and spoken language, visual presentations, and combinations of words and images, which means something that represents a thing, a person, an object, or a phenomenon. Irwin, R. L. (2013). Becoming A/r/tography. Studies In Art Education, 54(3), 198-215. Rita Irwin is an artist, researcher, and teacher deeply committed to the arts and education at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In this article, the author introduces what a/r/tography is and the possibilities of how it can be utilized. Most importantly, she describes how researchers establish the condition for becoming a/r/tography. In her view, the lines of intensity, movement, and events that entangle across time and place unfold into a cartography of a/r/tography. Becoming-intensity/becoming-events/becoming-movement affect each other mutually. This article helps me understand a/r/tography in depth and how to develop and create a/r/tography. Additionally, it gives me a model of an event which becomes one of – a collaborative a/r/ography project working with immigrant families in the city of Richmond – and really helps me conduct the a/r/tographical research. 3. Key Terms A/r/tography: A/r/tography is an arts-based research methodology, and the name itself examplifies these features by setting art and graphy, and the identities of artist, researcher, and teacher (a/r/t), in contiguous relations (Irwin, R. L., Beer, R., Springgay, S., Grauer, K., Xiong, G., & Bickel, B, 2006). The A/r/tography includes self-realization, self-development and the relationship between the self and the outside world, and extends to the reflection on education and teaching as well as personal life through artistic and aesthetic approaches to self-consciousness in education and social phenomena. This methodology does not place emphasis on the identity of the researcher, nor on the artist or the educator, while it focuses on when he/she is the researcher, or the artist, or the educator, including the transition between or among them. Moreover, these roles of “A/R/T” are not separate, they are united. Artist-researcher-teachers are inhabitants of these borderlands as they re-create, re-search, and re-learn ways of understanding, appreciating, and representing the world (Finley and Knowles 1995). A/r/tography places more emphasis on the close relationship between theory and practice, cognition and art than in previous educational research. Art is not just a means of expressing itself, it is also a way of recognizing and thinking about the world in reality. “A/r/tography is a living practice of art, research and teaching: a living message; a life-writing, life-creating experience (Irwin et al. 2001)”. It poses the questions - what does life look like? What are your feelings towards life? How can you capture the aspect of life? How can you achieve the goal of a/r/tography? Most importantly, a/r/tography as a research methodology does not create the invention while it does gain the new understanding based on the existing knowledge. As Irwin describes, researchers establish the condition for becoming a/r/tography. She claims that “the condition of possibility or the inventive potential creates the conditions for becoming (Irwin, 2013)”. In her view, the lines of intensity, movement, and events that entangle across time and place unfolds a cartography of a/r/tography. Nonimmigrant: As U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services states, nonimmigrant is “an alien who seeks temporary entry to the United States for a specific purpose”- whether for tourism, business, temporary work, or study, including temporary workers, students, exchange visitors, temporary visitors for business or for tourism. International Student: the definition of “international student” varies in each country in accordance to their own national education system. "An international student is defined as an individual who is enrolled for credit at an accredited higher education institution in the U.S. on a temporary visa, and who is not an immigrant (permanent resident with an I-51 or Green Card), or an undocumented immigrant, or a refugee." (UNESCO) Identity: The Communication Theory of Identity identifies four aspects of identity: personal, relational, enacted, and communal layers. The personal layer of identity is an individual’s self-concepts, which reflects the traditional conceptualization of identity. The relational layer takes a number of forms, perhaps the foremost among which is an individual’s perception of how others view of him/her. The enacted layer is an individual’s self as expressed in communication. The communal layer of identity is the collectivity or group’s conceptualization of identities. The communal layer exists on a group or collective level instead of the individual and dyadic units of identity that are reflected in the other layers (Hecht, 1993). This study would focus on individual identity, the communal layer of identity would not be included in the study. Documentary: The documentary is a movie about real life, but not real life. They are portraits of real life, using real life as their raw material constructed by artists and technicians who make myriad decisions about what story to tell to whom and for what purpose. Filmmakers expect that a documentary will be a fair and honest representation of somebody’s experience of reality. (Aufderheide, P. 2007) Additionally, documentaries that address a politics of identity also address the question of alliances and affinities among various subcultures, groups, and movement. Certainly, they emphasis on social issues and on personal portraiture as well. Social issue documentary might go with the expository mode and an earlier moment in documentary, whereas personal portraiture might seem to go with observational or participatory mode (Nichols, 2017, p. 243). Based on the purpose of this study, each participant would make a personal portraiture documentary film. Description of Project and anticipated resources required: The project finally would be a documentary which documents the stories behind some international students studying at the University of Missouri – Columbia. I would conduct this research (supported by MU International Center which is a department helping international students and scholars) among international students at the University of Missouri – Columbia which is located in the city of Columbia, Missouri. According to my research questions, each participant would be an individual who is enrolled for credit at the University of Missouri – Columbia on a temporary visa. However, it does not specifically require participants’ age, gender, but most of participants would be college students aged from 18-28. They may have previous art instruction during their high school education, and this research would begin during the spring semester where the study occurs so that as many as possible international students can participate in this research. After the research proposal is approved by MU International Center, they would help me send out the email to all MU international students to seek for participants. Anticipated Problems in Completing Project First, it is not easy to find enough participants who can attend this project, even if it is supported by MU International Center. The participation is voluntary, which means they take part in this project without receiving money. Therefore, it would be difficult to complete this project without funding. Second, even if I would get funding from some recourses, it is still hard to maintain every participant attendance. Third, some participants would be reluctant to express their true thinking even though they are willing to join in this research. Truth-speaking plays an important part when conducting this research, but it requires courage, a safe place, most importantly, gaining trust from the participants. Based on these points, it is difficult to maintain the veracity of the results. Project Plan: This project would be divided into three parts. First, I would lead participants to explore the big idea – identity, and the unit plan should be approved first by research advisor. During this period, I will teach participants how to use iMovie to create their own films. Second, I would have project assistants film the process of teaching and learning, while I would interview some participants during the process. Certainly, we will conduct pre- and post- interview for each participant to see what and how they identify themselves. Third, the project assistants and I will follow and document some international students’ real life at the University of Missouri – Columbia who have some impressing stories. These film footages will be combined with video clips from teaching and learning the big idea Identity. Time Line: 1. By Dec 15th 2017: complete the research proposal and get approved from research advisor; 2. By Dec 31st 2017: look for participants and funding source, affirm the final participants and funding; 3. By Jan 15th 2017: Create and design art lesson plans – documentary for participants, and get approved from research advisor; 4. Jan 19th – Mar 31st 2018: data collection (actual conduct of the research, meet, teach the participants regularly once a week in 50 minutes); 5. By Apr 30th 2018: data analysis; full of documentary is completed; write artist statement and research reflection; 6. May 1st – May 31st 2018: international student identity documentary exhibition; Discussion/Anticipated Outcomes and Benefits for you and your audience: This study had the potential to gain some new insights into how international students at the University of Missouri – Columbia identify themselves according to culture, ethnicity, etc. The final documentary would be a bridge across over among Mizzou faculty, staff and students, and it would help them get to know international students. However, this study would be limited by the time and the length of meeting times. Reference: Hecht, M. L. (1993). A research odyssey: Toward the development of a communication theory of identity. Communications Monographs, 60(1), 76-82. Dunn, P. (1996). More power: Integrated interactive technology and art education. Art Education, 49(6), 6–11. Heise, D., & Grandgenett, N. (1996). Perspectives on the use of Internet in art classrooms. Art Education, 49(6), 12–18. Krug, D. (1997). Electronic learning communities and art education. Arts and Learning Research. American Education Research Association Special Interest Group, 14, 23–45. Wang, C. C., Cash, J. L., & Powers, L. S. (2000). Who knows the streets as well as the homeless? Promoting personal and community action through photovoice. Health Promotion Practice, 1(1), 81-89. Adams, D. and Goldbard, A. (2001). Creative Community: The Art of Cultural Development, NY, New York: Rockefeller Foundation. Krug, D. H. (2004). Leadership and research: Reimagining electronic technologies for supporting learning through the visual arts. Studies in Art Education, 46(1), 3–5. Stankiewicz, M. A. (2004). Commentary: Notions of technology and visual literacy. Studies in Art Education, 46(1), 88–91. Irwin, R. L. (2004). A/r/tography: A Metonymic Metissage. In R. L. Irwin & A. de Cosson (Eds.), A/r/tography: Rendering self through arts-based living inquiry (pp. 27-38). Vancouver, BC: Pacific Educational Press. Irwin, R. L., Beer, R., Springgay, S., Grauer, K., Xiong, G., & Bickel, B. (2006). The Rhizomatic Relations of A/r/tography. Studies in Art Education, (1). 70. Aufderheide, P. (2007). Documentary film: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. Karen R. Humes; Nicholas A. Jones; Roberto R. Ramirez (March 2011). Irwin, R. L., Bickel, B., Triggs, V., Springgay, S., Beer, R., Grauer, K., & ... Sameshima, P. (2009). The City of Richgate: A/r/tographic Cartography as Public Pedagogy. International Journal Of Art & Design Education, 28(1), 61-70. doi:10.1111/j.1476-8070.2009.01593.x Tacchi, J. A. (2009). Finding a voice: Digital storytelling as participatory development in Southeast Asia. In Story circle: Digital storytelling around the world. Wiley-Blackwell.Jonrd, E. (2010) Internationalisation and the student voice: higher education perspectives. New York: Routledge Räsänen, M. (2012). Cultural identity and visual multiliteracy. Visual culture: Readings. Evora: Research Centre of the University of Evora (CIEP) and Fundaēćo Eugénio de Almeida (FEA).(In print.). Irwin, R. L. (2013). Becoming A/r/tography. Studies In Art Education, 54(3), 198-215. Zong, J. & Batalova, J. May 12, 2016. International Students in the United States. Retrieved at http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/international-students-united-states. University of Missouri – Columbia Campus Climate Research Study 2017, retrieved at https://diversity.missouri.edu/climate/2016/2016-MU-CCS-Full.pdf Open Doors: MIZZOU Fast Facts 2016, retrieved at https://international.missouri.edu/documents/open-doors-mizzou-fast-facts.pdf
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