Learning to Teach in the Shadows of 9/11: A Portrait of Two Arab American Preservice Teachers

This qualitative case study of two Arab American preservice teachers living, studying, and learning to teach in post-9/11 New York City explores how arts-informed inquiry opens up a different space for conceptualizing the human condition. Poetry and collage allowed the researcher and participants to co-theorize in a way that rendered a portrait that reflects the tones, intensities, and various hues of their experiences during this historical time period. Poetry provided a space to talk with each other about the (re) presentation and (co)understandings of the experiences, whereas collage provided an alternative dimension to discuss the emotions and feelings involved with shifting selves and power struggles. This article argues that arts-informed inquiry provides the possibilities to paint “an authentic portrait” through engaging in evocative experiences that reveal the multidimensionality of our lived realities.