#XXXtimeless: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Negotiating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Using Instagram

• In Event: Photo/Voice, Film, and Visual Literacy in Arts-Based Educational Research

Abstract

Abstract
This research expands on an interdisciplinary arts and education pedagogical project conducted at a four-year university located in the urban southwestern United States. We explored the ways university students used multimodal texts created for Instagram to negotiate meaning of Shakespeare’s complex text Romeo and Juliet. Our visual content analysis revealed how students leveraged a range of representational resources for communication including photographs, drawings, paintings (both created and found) as well as snippets of popular culture. We also found the Instagram posts demonstrated a hierarchy of understanding from literal to interpretive. This study shows how social media has a place in our university classrooms and can be used as a tool to mediate meaning of complex texts.

Authors

• Marva Cappello, San Diego State University

• Dani Bedau, San Diego State University