Power from within: An auto-ethnographic study of the roles of the arts in identity formation, achieving ‘flow’ and understanding selfhood growing up in China
This thesis sought to highlight the roles of art and education during adolescence through auto-biographical research tracing back to my personal journey of arts-learning from China, England and Singapore. Identity formation is one of the most salient issues as a human being moves through the lifespan, as adolescence is a crucial life stage of coherent identity formation.
It was found that art can provide a safe and enjoyable space for self-expression, exploration and reflection, and artistic endeavours are likely to foster one’s sense of accomplishment to boost self-esteem and confidence, contributing to forming stable self-concepts. Meanwhile, its healing nature makes art an ideal companion for lonely adolescents, especially in facing difficult hurdles in life.
The study analysed personal diary writings, as a hatch to my adolescent mind, my personal artefacts from different periods of education, mainly in China and the UK were assorted into groups and analysed. The cross-comparison and referencing of the two data sets shed light on how I benefited from studying multiple art forms and how art made my life more fulfilled. Because of my growing up in China, its education system and sociocultural views on art and education also played an inevitable part in my process of individuation.
