This doctoral research in the University of Lapland critically interrogates the pedagogical landscapes of sexuality and gender within arts education, examining the intricate intersections of artistic practice, embodied knowledge, and sociopolitical structures utilizing research data generated from art students in the researcher's courses. Employing a feminist methodology, the study problematizes normative educational discourses and explores the transformative potential of arts pedagogies in challenging systemic power dynamics.
Through a transdisciplinary approach spanning visual, performing, and media arts, the research excavates the complex epistemological tensions surrounding gender, sexuality, and artistic expression in higher education contexts. The inquiry centers on developing ethical pedagogical methodologies that decenter hierarchical knowledge production and foreground student agency and self-determination.
Emerging findings reveal the critical importance of creating epistemological spaces that enable nuanced, reflexive dialogues about embodied experiences. The study demonstrates how arts education functions as a generative site of critical reflection, challenging restrictive social inscriptions and facilitating more expansive understandings of subjectivity.
Contextualizing the research within the contemporary political landscape of conservative retrenchment, the study illuminates how artistic pedagogies can resist normative narratives and create transformative educational encounters. By critically analyzing the relationships between artistic practice, pedagogical methodology, and sociopolitical structures, this research contributes to ongoing scholarly conversations about representation, embodiment, and social justice in arts education.

Authors:
Katri Kauppala, University of Lapland, Finland

About the Presenter(s)
Kauppala's postgraduate studies at the University of Lapland's Faculty of Arts focus on the ethical practices of art education. The research topic is the ethics of teaching when dealing with sexuality. Through art-based action research, new practices are created to enable ethical pedagogy

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