“I Have to Think About the Body That I’m Living In”: Insights on Sociopolitical Development From Embodied and Blended Media Arts

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Centering Affective, Accessible, and Inclusive Perspectives in the Learning Sciences (Table 7)

Abstract

For many marginalized youth, critical consciousness facilitates becoming: decoding and addressing structural issues that perpetuate oppression in their lives. This paper analyzes naturalistic journeys of sociopolitical development for two former participants of community arts programs: Vanessa (from a dance program) and Eli (from a blended new media program). Through a retrospective multiple life history case study, we surface a) trajectories of sociopolitical learning and action as facilitated through their community arts experience and b) the ways in which participants’ respective art domains influenced their sociopolitical access points, takeaways, and commitments across their lives. We discuss the possibilities of community arts as a means for meaningful, lasting unlearning, and push for future work around sociopolitical development as essential equity work.

Authors

• Phebe Chew, New York Hall of Science

• Kylie A. Peppler, University of California - Irvine

• Julian D. Sefton-Green, Deakin University

• Pariece Nelligan, Deakin University

• Daniela Kruel DiGiacomo, University of Kentucky

• Sam Mejias, Parsons School of Design

• Ramon Louis Constan de Haan, The New School

• Seth Corrigan, University of California - Irvine