Alternative media for public pedagogy: "Chief" concerns and human agency

To demonstrate how the growing influence of alternative media in civil society correlates with the rise of social movements and their influence on contemporary manifestations of resistance, this research uses critical ethnographic methodologies to document the narratives of alternative media producers in the pro-Indigenous and anti-“Chief” campaigns at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the 2006-2007 school year. These narratives demonstrate not only the ways alternative media help transmit dissent by distributing information to diverse populations, but also the manner they facilitate contexts that influence identity formations and strengthen counter-cultural communal practices. Particular lineages of critical social theory are used to situate knowledge construction and social relationships within specific socio-historic contexts to approach issues of subjectivity, human agency, and resistance. These include the Frankfurt School for Social Research, the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, and the Brazilian education philosopher Paulo Freire, who emphasize criticality based on the engagement of ideological analysis, as well as developing capacities to critique and resist oppressive social and political relationships. Thus, this study argues for expanding traditional notions of literacy to include the ability to decode and produce media as a critical element of meaningful democratic participation.

Youth Expression with Video Surveillance Technology

This qualitative study examines five young Afro-Franco Caribbean males in the Diaspora and their experiences with systems of technology as a tool of oppression and liberation. The study utilized interpretive biography and participatory video research to examine the issues of identity, power/control, surveillance technology, love and freedom. The study made use of a number of data collection methods including interviews, round table discussions, and personal narratives. A hermeneutic theoretical framework is employed to develop an objective view of the problems facing Afro-Franco Caribbean males in the schools and community. The purpose of the study is to provide an environment and new media technology that Afro-Franco Caribbean males can use to engage and discuss their views on issues mentioned above and to ultimately develop a video project to share with the community. Moreover, the study sought to examine an epistemological approach (Creolization) that young black males, particularly Afro-Franco-Caribbean males, might use to communicate, document, and share their everyday experiences in the Diaspora. The findings in the study reveal that the participants are experiencing: (a) a lack of community involvement in the urban space they currently reside, (b) frustration with the perspective of their home country, Haiti, that is commonly shown in mainstream media, and (c) ridicule, shame, and violence in the spaces (school and community) that should be safe. The study provides the community (both local and scholarly) with an opportunity to hear the voices and concerns of youth in the urban space. In addition the study suggests a need for schools to create a critical pedagogical curriculum in which power can be democratically shared.