"I'm Trying to Save Some Lives Here!" An Activist Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Analysis of Dramatic Inquiry

• In Event: Roundtable Session 44
  In Roundtable Session: Drawing, Making, and Acting: Arts in Cultural Historical Research

Abstract

In this presentation we outline Stetsenko’s (2008) theory of a transformative activist stance in activity theory. We illustrate a transformative activist stance analysis through our work with fourteen middle school youth, their teachers, and a teacher-researcher who participated in a summer school project in which we imagined, enacted, read, and wrote stories based on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. We argue that pedagogies based in social imagination are among the most important, and least understood, activities for orienting youth and adults toward the pursuit of humanity and social justice in a global world.

Authors

• Patricia E. Enciso, The Ohio State University

• Brian W. Edmiston, The Ohio State University - Columbus

• Bridget Lee, The Ohio State University

• Allison J. Volz, The Ohio State University