\"Social Movement Literacy: A Public Pedagogy Project\"

Social Movement Literacy: A Public Pedagogy Project Jason Del Gandio, Ph.D. Temple University Department of Strategic Communication www.jasondelgandio.net

Purpose

Related Traditions 1) Critical Pedagogy  Education as liberation  Dialogue vs. banking model 2) Critical Communication Pedagogy  Communication-as-constitutive  Communication-and-power  Continual questioning 3) Communication Activism Pedagogy  Teaches students how to do activism  Activism as communicative process  Emphasizes social justice 4) Critical Civic Literacy  Political participation is teachable/learnable  Such participation can be direct or indirect 5) Public Pedagogy  Learning and teaching transcend the boundaries of the classroom  Teaching/learning in the public arena

To educate the general public on how to properly read and understand the nature and function of social movements.  SML is a public pedagogy project—meaning that it exceeds the institutional boundaries of the academy and seeks to have wide social influence.

2) Practical/Performative • How to enact and participate in social movement activity • How to bring about social change 3) Communicative/Rhetorical • How to discuss and debate social movement activity • How to articulate one’s support and/or critique of particular social movements

 SML develops skills and knowledges that are transferrable across movements—it establishes a set of core skills and knowledges that enable people to recognize, discuss, participate in, and/or critique, the ideologies, motivations, and tactics of social movements.

3) Create conditions for the possibility of more social movement activity.

 Note: All education is political, and SML is open and honest about its political agenda. Such openness and honesty safeguards SML from the charge of propaganda. Open and honest exchange about the nature and function of social movements is necessary for a healthy democracy. Arguing otherwise limits one’s ability to participate in the political operations of one’s society.

Relevant Sources

Six Skills and Knowledges 1) Reading the Conditions: SML develops the ability to recognize and articulate the specific conditions that make possible the emergence of particular social movements. 2) Reading the Communication: SML develops the ability to recognize, analyze, and understand the verbal, visual, embodied, and mediated communication of social movements. 3) Reading the Frames: SML develops the ability to recognize how framing (by both insiders, such as activists, and outsiders, such as media pundits) influence perception and understanding of social movement activity. 4) Reading the Tactics: SML develops the ability to identify and understand social movement tactics (rallies, marches, die-ins, occupations, strikes, boycotts, etc.).

6) Discussion and Debate: SML develops the ability to discuss and debate the pros and cons of different social movements and the complexities thereof.

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2) Cultivate empathy for those who collectively fight for social justice.

 Thought: A world without social movements is a world of oppression and tyranny void of hope and justice.

5) Switching Perspectives: SML develops the ability to switch between one’s own political worldview and the worldview of various social movements.

RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2015

1) Desensitize people to the perceived “otherness” of social movements.

 SML involves collaboration between scholars and activists—each brings something unique to the project.

Three Broad Rubrics 1) Theoretical/Conceptual • How to cognitively process social movement activity • How to observe, think about, reflect on, analyze, differentiate, comprehend, and understand social movements.

The SML Political Agenda

DeVitis, J. L. (Ed.). (2011). Critical civic literacy. New York, NY: Peter Lang. Fassestt, D. L. & Warren, J. T. (2007). Critical communication pedagogy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. Frey, L. R. & Palmer, D. L. (Eds.). (2014). Teaching communication activism: Communication education for social justice. New York, NY: Hampton Press. Giroux, H. A. (2011). On critical pedagogy. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. hooks, b. (1997). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York, NY: Routledge. Sandlin, J. A., Schultz, B. D., & Burdick, J. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of public pedagogy. New York, NY: Routledge.