Contextualizing Art in the World of an Indian American Child

Abstract

To conduct this ethnographic study, the researcher closely followed an Indian American child for a period of three years, observing and analyzing, many significant and not so significant events of his life. The child's artistic response to several such events shed considerable light on why human beings create art in the first place. Additionally, the study analyzes issues related to adequacy of school arts and multiculturalism in art education, leading to an examination of ethnic and mainstream art forms being actively patronized by the Indian American community outside the school arena.