Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy: Toward a Theory of Self and Social Empowerment

This book has received the AESA (American Educational Studies Association) Critics Choice Award 2012.
This book introduces a progressive type of education called Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy. This pedagogy utilizes the arts to promote critical learning, and incorporates particular types of aesthetic experiences into pedagogical practices to increase students' social empowerment and commitment to social justice. The first coherent body of work that marries critical pedagogy and aesthetics, the book guides theory and practice for teacher educators interested in infusing their critical pedagogical practices with the arts. It also proposes tangible reforms in the public school system that will enable a critical aesthetic process to take root and thrive.
Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy can be used in upper-level undergraduate and graduate teacher education and art education courses. It can also help P-12 teachers and art organizations to successfully develop and carry out critical aesthetic practices at all levels. In addition, it provides a rationale for school administrators, community leaders, and educational policymakers for embracing critical aesthetic practices as a way to improve the education of all children.

Born in New York City and raised in the Dominican Republic, Yolanda Medina is Assistant Professor of Education at Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY and founder of the Santo Rico Kids Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization in Spanish Harlem that provides dance instruction to children. She has published on critical pedagogy, art education, aesthetics, and social justice.