Alternative media for public pedagogy: "Chief" concerns and human agency

To demonstrate how the growing influence of alternative media in civil society correlates with the rise of social movements and their influence on contemporary manifestations of resistance, this research uses critical ethnographic methodologies to document the narratives of alternative media producers in the pro-Indigenous and anti-“Chief” campaigns at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during the 2006-2007 school year. These narratives demonstrate not only the ways alternative media help transmit dissent by distributing information to diverse populations, but also the manner they facilitate contexts that influence identity formations and strengthen counter-cultural communal practices. Particular lineages of critical social theory are used to situate knowledge construction and social relationships within specific socio-historic contexts to approach issues of subjectivity, human agency, and resistance. These include the Frankfurt School for Social Research, the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, and the Brazilian education philosopher Paulo Freire, who emphasize criticality based on the engagement of ideological analysis, as well as developing capacities to critique and resist oppressive social and political relationships. Thus, this study argues for expanding traditional notions of literacy to include the ability to decode and produce media as a critical element of meaningful democratic participation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Feria-Galicia, Joseph Posada-Huerta

Contributors dc:contributor

• Darder, Antonia
• Peters, Michael A.
• Reese, Debbie
• Leistyna, Pepi

• critical media literacy
• public pedagogy
• critical pedagogy
• alternative media
• radical media
• critical ethnography
• Mascots
• Chief Illiniwek
• American Indian mascots
• resistance
• S.T.O.P. Coalition

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Joseph Posada-Huerta Feria-Galicia

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16758

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/16758