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Abstract
As the number of culturally and linguistically diverse students has increased in public schools in the U.S., educators and schools have encountered the need to provide culturally relevant education to support both mainstream and non-mainstream students. To investigate these educational needs, I conducted qualitative empirical and interpretive research to explore the nuances of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) Korean American children’s voices, lived experiences, and cultural values. With particular attention paid to culturally sensitive art practices, this research examines how various art activities help CLD children express their hidden stories, perspectives, and experiences to promote their senses of self. The data was collected over a total of 15 sessions with four Korean American children between the ages of seven to nine living in the southeastern region of the U.S. The theoretical frameworks of critical race theory, community cultural wealth, critical pedagogy, and critical multiculturalism ground this research. The data, which were gathered through various data collection methods including document collection, participant observation, and researcher fieldnotes, consisted of a variety of the children’s artwork, partial transcriptions of audio and video recordings of small talk and conversations, and my fieldnotes. By employing content and thematic analysis, I found that Korean American children were challenged in their daily school lives by their different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The children had ambivalent self-perceptions, including a sense of pride and a sense of conflict about their different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The data also showed that the children tried to create space for finding a sense of belonging through understanding racial awareness and forging social relationships in their schools and communities. In this study, culturally sensitive art practices supported agency through choice and play, which empowered the children’s voices to tell their stories and lived experiences and established the omission of cultural diversity in existing art education - specifically, Asian art and culture. An implication of this research includes advocating for choice-based pedagogy, play-based learning, and culturally sensitive art teaching that fosters active and more in-depth critical multicultural art educational practices in K-12 schools.