New Literacies, Popular Culture, and English as a Discipline: The Remix

• In Event: Roundtable Session 58
  In Roundtable Session: Sex, Scandal, and Pop Culture: Considering Technology in Curriculum Theory

Abstract

This paper is a collection of three interrelated philosophical pieces that use perspectives from new literacy studies, social semiotics, and cultural theory to push the boundaries of English as a discipline. The first piece analyzes “proper” English as it often stands in direct opposition to cultural or popular ways of being. The second piece explores how “classic” literature is defined in terms of power and identity. The third piece locates where English as a discipline fits within fast-paced social networks and rapid realities. In the end, the paper remixes English as a subject area in light of our intellectual and cultural histories, leaving room for pedagogies of multiliteracies for today’s complex and multifaceted youth.

Author

• Dawnene D. Hassett, University of Wisconsin - Madison