The Liberatory Potentials of Multimodality: Collaborative Reggaeton Music Video Production in Habana, Cuba

• In Event: Multimodal Narratives for Liberation: Toward Embodied Literacies

Abstract

This study took place in Habana, Cuba over approximately one year, wherein the researcher collaborated with Reggaeton artists. While scholarship in multimodality has explored its potentials for literacy pedagogy, developing new literacies, and expanding identity possibilities, less research has focused on the creation of the spaces, tools, and resources required for composing multimodal products and on the liberatory dimensions of multimodality. This study highlights the backstories of these production processes, including the innovative use(s) of spaces and tools, the resources leveraged in order to construct and distribute multimodal media, and the ways artists made meaning together.The findings elucidate the ways the artists leveraged their ingenuity, collaboratively developed digital literacy practices, and produced multimodal texts to create new possibilities.

Authors

• Eliza Desiree Butler, Miami Dade College

• Tori K. Flint, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette

• Ana Christina da Silva Iddings, Vanderbilt University