Interview with Andrea Zakin

Approach to Enculturation in Prehistory
and in Present
60th Birth Anniversary of Ian Hodder

Complied and edited by Lolita Nikolova and E rnst Pernicka

Reports of Prehistoric Research Projects 9 (2009)
in collaboration with Stratum, Chisinau, Moldova
Contents

11-18-08
Interview with Andrea Zakin

Andrea Zakin, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Undergraduate Program, Advisor for
Undergraduate Minor, Department of Early Childhood & Childhood Education, Lehman
College, City University of New York

I learned about Andrea Zakin from the Journal of Education and Human Development.
My interest in childhood education made me ask the editors and the author to
republished Andrea’s article in Reports of Prehistoric Research Projects. Both agreed
and Andrea even found time to answer my questions for an interview to be published in
the special issue of RPRP (the 60th Hodder's Birth Anniversary). Hope in near future we
can also represent his dissertation “A Vygotskian Approach to Art Education: Cognitive
Functioning in the Artistic Process" (2005 NYU, Steinhardt School of Education).

Lolita Nikolova: Tell us first about you.
Andrea Zakin: I am an artist, primarily a painter, and have been showing in the New York
area for some time. I am an Assistant Professor at Lehman College where I teach art
and art education. My husband is an artist and designer, and my daughter is trying to
navigate the complicated life of a teenager in New York City!

L.N.: Why did you choose the topic of your dissertation?
AZ: I have always been interested in how artists make art, starting with my own art
production, and extending to the difficulties many students have learning art. My ideas,
therefore, stem from both my own artwork and my experience teaching drawing on the
college level. Over the course of twenty-five years, I have developed an approach to
teaching art that integrates the eye and the mind (what I call “letting the mind help the
eye”), and spontaneity and planning (something I’ve struggled with in my own art
production). When I began my doctoral studies, I read some of Vygotsky’s writings, and
realized that I had unknowingly adapted his ideas about scaffolding, inner speech, and
the zone of proximal development to art. I became excited about applying his theories
more systematically to art education, which ultimately formed the kernel of my
dissertation topic.

L.N.: Tell us something about your Russian roots.
A.Z.: Both sets of grandparents are from White Russia. My mother’s parents, in
particular, shared stories from their youth. My grandfather would also play Russian
tunes on the clarinet while my grandmother would dance some of the Russian dances
she recalled from childhood. While my grandparents were alive, there was a strong
connection between Russia and America.

L.N.: How can you explain your interest in children?
A.Z.: I have had a lot of experience teaching children in a variety of capacities, including
as an artist teacher for arts organizations, school districts, and schools. I taught units
of study on art and art integrated into the curriculum, and learned how children think
and make art. Of course, this interest was compounded when my daughter was small
and I participated in her education as well.

L.N.: What would like to change in our relation to the children?
A.Z.: Mostly, I would like to see our educational system honor and encourage the
uniqueness and complexity of children, and move away from standardized testing and
instead emphasize the individual learner. I support alternative instructional and
assessment modalities. I would also like to see the arts be given greater priority in
schools.

L.N.: Do you have a tip how to stop the children pornography on Internet?
A.Z.: I am appalled by the prevalence of child pornography on the internet. Perhaps
educating our youth about the problems inherent in child pornography would be a good
place to start.

L.N.: What do you do beyond teaching?
A.Z.: I make art. I write articles. I’m a mother to a teenage girl. These are my primary
activities.

L.N.: Do you like art and if so, which art?
A.Z.: I like a lot of different kinds of art. If I can sense something genuine about the
intent and the process, then I’m intrigued. Right now, I’m interested in art that deals
with disjointed narrative.

L.N.: What is your understanding about human evolution?
A.Z.: Oh, I’m a Darwinian through and through!

L.N.: What do you our readers to know more about you?
A.Z.: I think the most important thing is that there should be a sense of unity to what
one does in life. For me, this means a connection between my artwork and my research.
It makes everything much more interesting.

L.N.: Which question would you never answer?
A.Z.: None.

L.N.: Let me imagine we live in Prehistory. You are father of 6 children between 1 and 10
years. How would you enculturate them?
A.Z.: Children living in prehistory would already be enculturated because all periods and
places have a culture.

L.N.: You are again in Prehistory and one of your children cannot talk? What would you
do?
A.Z.: Draw. And continue to involve the child in all activities.

L.N.: You are again in Prehistory and one of your daughter is just at 13 and wants to
marry? Would you allow her?
A.Z.: The issue of early marriage would be part of the culture at that time.

L.N.: Which epoch of human history was the best for development of children?
A.Z.: None.

L.N.: Going back to your dissertation: what did you learn about culture and brain that
eventually change your view on the world?
A.Z.: I learned that the brain is exceedingly elastic, that humans have an endless
capacity to learn, and that learning may be one of their main purposes in life. Now that I
think of it, it’s a very positive message.

L.N.: Thank you so much and hope you will read soon new interesting writings by you.