Overcoming the Silence Through Spoken Word

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Increasingly, education scholars have begun to use spoken word poetry as a literary tool for historically marginalized youth to deconstruct issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. This panel seeks to demonstrate the effectiveness of spoken word in creating more inclusive environments for all students by nurturing their individual voices, connecting with their lived experiences, and promoting social justice and equity in education. In addition, the panel demonstrates how spoken word is a literary tool of empowerment that addresses students’ multiple identities, explores critical thinking by questioning the world, deconstructs identities, and develops students’ sense of voice.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Educators for Social Justice

Chair

• Keisha L. Green, University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Papers

• “I Think We Can Use Our Words to Change the World”: Poetry as a Tool of Social Analysis in a Class of Nondominant Fifth-Grade Students - Denise Pacheco, University of California - Los Angeles

• “Education Is Obligatory Theft”: Reclaiming Critical Public Pedagogical Spaces for Youth Voices - Tyson E.J. Marsh, University of New Mexico

• I Am More Than My Voice: A Young Woman’s Journey Toward Spoken Word and Exploring Her Dis/Ability - Shiv Raj Desai, Thomas More College; Adai A. Tefera, Arizona State University

Discussant

• Tyrone C. Howard, University of California - Los Angeles