This article explores the normative representations of higher education students in seven films and television series from four European countries. Drawing on the concept of the 'independent learner' as an 'ideal construction', I demonstrate how these texts offer complex and at times paradoxical representations of who gets positioned as the…

Reggaetón music is very popular among young people of school-age. Thus, we intend to examine the values of equality transmitted in the lyrics of this music genre. Using critical discourse analysis and assisted by the Maxqda software package we analysed the lyrics of 65 of the most popular reggaetón songs of 2020. Results suggest that reggaetón…

As the territory's sole public service broadcaster and a government department, Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) bears a dual responsibility for disseminating information to the public and in assisting in constructing how the public understands emerging issues and marginalized social groups. This paper analyzes how neurodivergent individuals are…

With a runtime of 47 years, Saturday Night Live has long served as a societal mirror that captures and creates popular culture. In recent years the show has been criticized for its lack of diverse hosts, cast and staff. Out of 930 episodes only seven episodes have been hosted by an Asian host, four of whom identify as Chinese. This research…

I argue that an analysis of antiblack racism in music education discourse is crucial in identifying and addressing potential for harm in the music classroom. I contend that Black children are particularly, and regularly, subjected to poor stereotypical depictions of their identity in digital media. Furthermore, I contend that this digital…

Popular culture aids in the conditioning of U.S. society, assisting in the determination of who is esteemed as literate and who is disgraced with illiteracy. Unfortunately, pop culture depictions of black male literacy often reify the stereotype that black males are less literate than their peers. Although a real issue presents itself in the…

Most western countries face either existing or looming teacher shortages. No doubt there are many and varied reasons for this and no simple remedy. Contemporaneously, film and television can have profound, often unintended attitudinal and behavioural consequences. As reflectors and creators of societal values, axiomatically, they provide insight…

This article seeks to explore the complexities of Black subjectivities as written and illustrated by comic book creators of color who wrestle with the enigmatic qualities of blackness as they write within and beyond racial imaginaries and social realities. I call these works "critical race comics" to highlight their explicit engagement…

Mathematicians are often inimically portrayed in popular culture, resulting in an abundance of non-mathematical identities in the classroom. Various tropes are propagated by the media that dominate our mental schemas of what makes a mathematician: the eccentric Einstein-like old man; the young, tortured genius; and the "genetically…

Images of mathematics and mathematicians are often negative and stereotyped. These portrayals may work to construct our impressions of mathematics and influence students' identity with and future participation in the subject. This study examined young adult fiction as a context in which school mathematics is portrayed and constructed. I used…

From literary canons all the way to the motion picture industry, the artistic and popular cultural experience of marginalized or nonmainstream groups has been one of being represented by the other. In this article, we explore how online fanfiction, as an audience-driven, interactive form of writing, may offer a way for members of nonmainstream…

According to former National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) president Cathy L. Seeley (2014), students experience more success when they engage in doing mathematics (i.e., writing about or discussing mathematics, modeling situations, or exploring ideas in the classroom). She further recommended that teachers pose challenging problems or…

Situated within research on youth, participatory politics, and media framing of obesity, this study examined how undergraduate students in a media literacy course engaged with obesity discourse as a nexus of civic participation. Twenty-nine students enrolled on the course identified frames of obesity in plus-size model Tess Holliday's Instagram…

CaShawn Thompson's hashtag, #BlackGirlMagic, has transformed into a movement over the past five years. The hashtag focuses on celebrating the beauty, influence, and strength of Black women and girls. However, Thompson's term sits in a space of tension, where contradictory interpretations create boundaries around what Black girl celebration means…

This inaugural Saudi Arabian-based (SA) study explored how social media images and cartoons can influence the professional identity of pre-service teachers (PSTs) measured by their reflections on self-selected images of teachers and teaching in Saudi media. PSTs (n = 30) were enrolled in a teacher education program in a faculty of education in a…