Artifacts as Catalysts for Reimagining Transcultural Literacy Pedagogies

• In Event: Roundtable Session 57
  In Roundtable Session: Literacy in Transcultural and Cosmopolitan Times: A Call for Change

Abstract

Purpose
Consistent with the “material turn” more broadly (e.g., Green, 2012; Rose & Tolia-Kelly, 2012; Barad, 2003), this study of theory in practice explores the possibilities of artifacts as catalysts for transcultural literacy pedagogies through eight case studies from K-12 educators in western Canada.

Theoretical Framework
Critical Artifactual Literacies
A theory of artifactual literacy draws together semiotics, multimodality, and material cultural studies (Pahl & Rowsell, 2010; 2011). Artifacts—as physical objects with value and meaning—mediate narrative spaces. In a pedagogy of critical artifactual literacies, “every object tells a story” (Pahl & Rowsell, 2010), and so the everyday artifacts of students’ lives become prompts for a literacy pedagogy that flows from them.

Indigenous Métissage
Objects connect people to the stories of the urban/landscapes they are from (McLeod, 2007). From an Indigenous perspective, artifacts of place are replete with “contested interpretations of culture and identity” (Donald, 2009, p. 11). A decolonizing pedagogy, Indigenous Métissage braids together perspectives to explore how artifacts and places “are rooted in colonial histories and logics that are both simultaneously and paradoxically antagonistic and conjoined” (Donald, 2009, p. 11). Knowledge emerges relationally, through reciprocity and partnerships (Sumara & Iftody, 2013).

Materialist Pedagogies
Material, cultural, and visual studies emphasize that “the view of the world revealed through material culture is not the same as that attained through words” (Ames, 1992, as cited in Green, 2012, p. 69). Materialist pedagogies suggest that “senses, memory, body and history” (Rose & Tolia-Kelly, 2012, p. 3) all become relevant if we “do justice” to materiality (Buck-Morss, 2002). Pedagogically, the material invites epistemologies and ontologies not often recognized in school contexts or discourses, challenging dominant assumptions in education about knowing, being and learning.

Methods
New pedagogies were developed through the collaborative inquiry and research (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) of eight practitioners over four months. The inquiry was prompted by shared concerns about literacy curriculum and assessment not honouring the “stunning diversity” (teacher interview) of students. Inspired by an interdisciplinary curriculum about the birch bark canoe, the question became: What happens when we consider the possibilities for artifactual pedagogies and material epistemologies in literacy teaching and research?

Data sources
The eight pedagogical projects encompass a diverse range of artifactual catalysts (see Figure 1). The paper examines how these pedagogies, when enacted in the classroom, expanded ways of knowing and being—for both students and teachers.
Conclusion/Significance
Artifactual pedagogies challenge and inspire us to re-imagine education for diverse democracies. They create dialogic, caring, and respectful spaces “to see ourselves and the world differently”, “to reposition ourselves”, and “to think metaphorically and symbolically and to try on new perspectives” (Albers, Holbrook, and Harste, 2010, p. 167). They honour knowledge that grows “at the intersection between things and people,….experiences and bodies” (Tuana, as cited in Jackson & Mazzei, 2012, p. 118), allowing education to again become relevant to the stunning diversity of our students today.

Author

• Michelle Honeyford, University of Manitoba