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An apprenticeship in mask making: situated cognition, situated learning, and tool acquisition in the context of Chinese Dixi mask making

Chu, Rita CM
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1158693508

Abstract Details

2006, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Art Education.
This study unmasks Chinese Dixi mask makers, who have been masked in Chinese history for centuries. Instead of writing their history, this study tells their mental stories. Instead of understanding them through interview, this study assumes an apprentice’s role to learn a mask maker’s way of thinking and his community’s worldview. This apprenticeship (situated learning) is adopted as an alternative research method to the individual-centered and lab-environed methodology commonly found in the science laboratory. Thus, it sheds new light on the understanding of artistic cognition. Mask maker’s cognition is considered as imaginative cognition that materializes divine images socially constructed by the mask ritual community. While divine images belong to the immaterial realm, but mask making is material production, how do mask makers translate these mental images into concrete masks? Where do they obtain mask symbols? And, how can this mental representation be taught and acquired? Answers to these questions might help art educators to bestow students with cognitive tools to foster their imagination and creativity. The apprenticeship in mask making is further accentuated by the analysis of acquiring mask-making tools. What mask making tools are to the mask ritual community, technology is to modern society. Vygotsky’s theory of psychological tools and neo-Vygotskians’ situated cognition and situated learning theories are incorporated into the construction of tool acquisition theory, which attempts to develop a psychological approach to technology education. The electronic version of this dissertation is utilized to demonstrate how technology can be integrated into learning and research. It is also essential to this study’s theoretical framework, as tools and media facilitate, and situate, cognition. It is through the electronic version of this dissertation that the Dixi mask performance can be globally distributed. Such a global presentation has been the mask performers’ desire: to share with global citizens their arts, of which they are proud. On the other hand, senior performers worry about diminishing faith in the Dixi mask ritual, which sustains their values and traditions. By presenting their ritual performance herein, I hope this study can make some contribution to their tradition while expressing my appreciation for their participation.
Arthur Efland (Advisor)
233 p.
Education, Art
Art; Cognition; Education; Intelligence; Symbols; Situated; Apprenticeship; Learning; Dixi; Mask; Mask-making; Performance; Script; Gods; Oral tradition; Artmaking

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chu, R. C. (2006). An apprenticeship in mask making: situated cognition, situated learning, and tool acquisition in the context of Chinese Dixi mask making [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1158693508

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chu, Rita. An apprenticeship in mask making: situated cognition, situated learning, and tool acquisition in the context of Chinese Dixi mask making. 2006. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1158693508.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chu, Rita. "An apprenticeship in mask making: situated cognition, situated learning, and tool acquisition in the context of Chinese Dixi mask making." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1158693508

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2006, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.