Using Research-Based Pan-African Heritage Knowledge in Critical Educational Alternatives to 21st-Century Digital Plantations

Session Type: WERA Symposium

Abstract

Three papers examine race and gender ideological distortion in educational materials in the US and other countries—as well as community-based alternatives that use research-based Pan-African (global) heritage knowledge to prepare young people to resist such damaging influences. A Black Studies theoretical conceptualization informs comparative, socio-cultural and empirical analyses of ideologically distorted content and benefits of culturally inclusive media and materials including games and animations developed in the U.S., Denmark, England and Nigeria. This symposium asks: What is the state of research knowledge and what are alternatives to race and gender-based ideological distortions in animations, video games and other children’s media? African American parents’ views regarding the benefits of community-based alternatives are also presented. The papers will advance our understanding of Black education globally.

Sub Unit

• World Education Research Association

Chair

• Janice B. Fournillier, Georgia State University

Papers

• Beyond Ideological Distortion: Teaching the African Heritage "From the Nile to the Niger to the Neighborhood" Transformatively in the Songhoy Club and Parents' Reflections - Joyce E. King, Georgia State University; Melissa Speight Vaughn, Georgia State University; Chike Akua, Georgia State University

• Gamifying Slavery, Augmenting Whose Reality? A Critical Analysis of Two Historical Games Developed by Danish Gamers and U.S. Educators - Valora M. Richardson, Georgia State University

• Animation, Gaming, and the Construction of Black Female Identity - Lynda Lee Osborne, Georgia State University

Discussant

• Gloria S. Boutte, University of South Carolina