Students Living within Violent Conflict: Should Art Educators “Play it Safe” or Face “Difficult Knowledge”?

Abstract

This article is based on five case studies of an teaching in Israel in a situation of constant violent conflict. It presents the art teachers' practices and beliefs about coping with their students' experiences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Three approaches to art education in this context are identified: a) art creation as an act of therapy involving the expression of feelings and thoughts related to violent experiences, b) art education as a means to broaden the gaze on the “Other” and beyond the conflict, and c) art education as dealing with political art and imagery without detaching it from the students' reality. The last approach implies confronting students with “difficult knowledge” (Britzman, 1998), knowledge that they resist because it presents them with moral conflict in their own reality. Although every conflict has its historical, cultural and social conditions, the examples may be relevant for other art educators who are concerned about their students' lives.