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From Lindy Johnson and Donna Alvermann:
For our May 2nd #literacies chat, we’d like to talk about “Art, Activism & Literacy.” After planning and attending the JoLLE Conference on “Activist Literacies,” (Simon, Campano, Yee, Ghiso, Sánchez, & Low, 2012), we were intrigued by the fact that so many of our presenters focused on art and aesthetics as a key feature of their activism (see the JOLLE Portfolio).
Of course, activists have leveraged the power of art for decades. Consider for example, the work of Banksy, the Guerrilla Girls, and the Occupy Wallstreet Movement. At a more local level, we have witnessed (and participated in) activist movements in Athens, Georgia (such as the undocumented student movement, and “Say No to Walmart”) that have used art to help spread their message.
For this #literacies chat, we invite discussion on how educators who are working at the intersections of activism and literacy to describe the ways they are using multiple and multimodal literacies, and arts and performance-based literacies to enact change within their communities.
- What is both “natural” and “unnatural” in linking art, activism, and literacy?
- In what ways have you used art/aesthetic experiences to enact change within your own community?
- How can we draw on the power of art and aesthetics to meet the literacy needs of our students?
For further reading:
Faltis, C. (2012). Art and text as living inquirty into anti-immigration discourse. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 14 (2). Available here.
Simon, R., Campano, G., Broderick, D., & Pantoja, A. (2012). Practitioner research and literacy studies: Toward more dialogic methodologies. English Teaching Practice and Critique, 11(2), 5-24. Available here.
#literacies chat 