Unforgetting Through Digital Storytelling: Literacy, Identity, and Voice for Afghan Refugee Women

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Agency and Ideologies

Abstract

This study explores how Collaborative Digital Storytelling (CDST) fosters literacy development, identity expression, and agency among Afghan refugee women resettled in the United States. Grounded in RefugeeCrit, multimodal literacy, and trauma-informed practice, the project engaged participants in a community-based ESL program in co-constructing personal digital stories across oral, visual, and written modes. Findings highlight three themes: multimodal and multilingual literacy development, cultural identity navigation, and empowerment through narrative reclamation. CDST created space for participants to “unforget” histories of displacement and educational inequity while “imagining” new futures rooted in voice, healing, and resilience. This study contributes a culturally responsive, justice-oriented approach to education research that centers marginalized voices and reclaims narrative power through multimodal pedagogy.

Authors

• Melissa Wicker, Tarleton State University

• Jiening Ruan, University of Oklahoma

• Jacey Ford, University of Oklahoma