Affective Pedagogies, Implicated Subjects: Using Critical Media Literacy-Based Approaches to Educate for Social Justice

• In Event: Pedagogy and Curriculum for Developing Critical, Racial, and Gender Literacies

Abstract

This paper explores the potential of critical media literacy (CML) to educate for social justice within teacher education and high school settings. CML enables learners to engage critically with media content in order to understand and respond to social inequalities and injustices; yet the emotional dynamics of CML remains under-explored. Drawing on theoretical and conceptual insights, as well as empirical data derived from in-depth interviews with teachers about their experiences of using CML approaches in their classrooms, this paper considers the possibilities and limitations of affectively-informed CML in empowering students to participate in society as justice-oriented citizens. The paper concludes with a consideration of what is affective as well as effective in pedagogical encounters with so-called “difficult knowledge” (Britzman, 1998).

Author

• Audrey Bryan, Dublin City University