Popular culture and critical media literacy in adult education: Theory and practice

Abstract

This chapter introduces the volume, provides an overview of the theory and literature on popular culture and critical media literacy in education, and discusses ways to use popular culture in adult education.

Media analysis as critical reflexology in exploring adult learning theories

“…As evidenced in the work of several adult educators (Tisdell, 2007;Tisdell & Thompson, 2007;Wright & Sandlin, 2009) noted here, media analysis offers scholars another vantage point to examine social phenomena through a medium that is often more accessible and perhaps more attractive than a formal learning experience. Many movies address organization and human relations issues.…”

“…Tisdell (2007) points out that this is a glaring gap in the literature, and that we need to focus more on how adult learners change through their interaction with popular culture. Although the authors deliberately analyzed their media artifact through the lens of adult learning concepts, they also experienced changes in how they viewed alternative representations of the "other", how they understood different learning concepts, and how their own media consumption was influenced.…”

“…Both activities were effective at reinforcing the utility of media as a familiar form of learning, and engaged the teachers in examining their own skepticism toward professional development programs. Although learners may initially view media for pleasure, adult learning facilitators can engage learners to consider both the conscious and unconscious message emanating from the characters and story (Tisdell, 2007).…”

“…Similarly, Morntountak (this issue) suggests learners examine Mack's change process as a way to both deepen understanding of transformational learning and to examine perspectives on western-based religious symbolism that is predominately white and male. While media can be used to highlight personal perspectives on group differences, it could also be used as the primary text to question the effects of popular culture on reinforcing the dominant views of group identity (Tisdell, 2007).…”

Rekindling Community Education in Neoliberal Times

“…It is also helpful to be able to reframe ubiquitous popular culture in a way that develops a critical media literacy which can transform sites of conformity to sites of critical resistance (Tisdell, 2007). One difficulty with much writing on critical pedagogy, and to a lesser extent popular education, is failure to sufficiently acknowledge how to embody this approach, consistently telling the reader what to do but not how to do it.…”