Black Adolescents' Critical Encounters With Media and the Counteracting Possibilities of Critical Media Literacy

• In Event: 25.068 - Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: 25.068-16 - Strategies for Ensuring Black Student Success in Education: Insights From Research

Abstract

This transformative mixed-methods research study was designed to investigate Black adolescents’ perceptions of the role media plays in constructing their personal identity and societal perceptions of Blacks. Participants’ perceptions were garnered through pre-post study surveys, interviews with 15 participants, 467 student journals, and 15 observation field notes.
Data analyses revealed several findings; however, this paper will only explore the finding that critical media literacy heightened participants’ awareness of the role of media in shaping society’s knowledge about Blacks. The study highlights the need for discursive spaces in schools, communities and homes for Black adolescents to deconstruct media master narratives, problematize the role of media in their lives, and develop counter-narratives that challenge the marginalization of people of color.

Author

• Kalisha A. Waldon, Palm Beach State College