Everyday cultural resources that originate outside school offer possibilities for multimodal creativity and identity play, as children consume, transform and produce multimodal texts. In this study, Kyle, a boy in elementary school, fluidly performed social identities and engaged in playful and parodic rescripting of identities and resources from…

Background/Context: Tropes of dis/ability in the movies and master-narratives of Black males in education and society are typically treated in isolation. Furthermore, education research on Hollywood movies has typically focused on portrayals of schools, principals, and teachers even though education professionals are exposed to a broader range of…

Considering the role of popular cultural texts in shaping sociolinguistic reality, it makes sense to explore how children actually receive those texts and what conceptualisations of sociolinguistic diversity they form through those texts. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine Greek young children's views on sociolinguistic…

This article explores political ambiguities surrounding the mutual implication between technology and subjectivity, through the analysis of recent cultural texts about childhood. These ambiguities are shown to rely upon the mobilisation of memory and assume specific gendered forms. The appeal to the past figured by the child is also shown to…

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study of the literacy practices of a group of 11-14 year-old Black males who defined themselves as "the cool kids." The study is framed using theories that view literacy as a social and cultural practice involving multiple sign and symbol systems. Two research questions guided the study: How did…

While much of mainstream qualitative research has focused on conventional methodology, in terms of axis of inquiry, epistemology, and approaches to ground the theory of its questions to construct knowledge, educational researchers have yet to conceptually develop an alternative praxis in our work which takes into account hip-hop culture. More…

The homeboy aesthetic is identifiable as an assemblage of key signifiers: clothing (baggy pants and undershirts are perhaps the most significant), hair (or, in the current moment of the aesthetic, lack of hair), bold stance, and distinct language (think "calo" mixed with hip-hop parlance), all combining to form a distinguishable cultural…

Examines the way alcohol use has been portrayed in films with particular emphasis on the western genre. Saloons, bar fights, and town drunks are all staple features of the genre, a genre that has contributed significantly to the prevailing image of masculinity. This paper argues that these images influence and shape contemporary attitudes about…

The first comprehensive research handbook of its kind, this volume showcases innovative approaches to understanding adolescent literacy learning in a variety of settings. Distinguished contributors examine how well adolescents are served by current instructional practices and highlight ways to translate research findings more effectively into…

In his films, Spike Lee proclaims the existence of a dynamic and multifaceted African-American society, but he consistently delimits a peripheral role for African-American women, subordinate to that of the African-American man. Lee's work will fall short of its potential until it reflects the inherent value of African-American women. (SLD)

Provides a psychotheological interpretation of rap music by African-American male artists and of its audience, examining the music and its social context. Common themes include despair over acute psychosocial and physical needs, intensity and violence as a means of personal integration, ontological insecurity, and desire for transformation and…