Youth literacies and social justice (PDF)

Now more than ever, literacies are playing an integral role in understanding, navigating, and mobilizing complex social words. Yet, what's different and what's the same in literacy research? In what ways do we as educators and researchers view and theorize literacies in today's digital era? In what ways are youth engaging different forms of literacies in and beyond classrooms? How are literacies conceived as a social practice related to and serve as tools in combating social inequities and issues of social justice? In what ways are youth talking back and speaking truth to power? What educative processes are involved? What youth literacies have emerged as catalysts for social justice and activist work, and why do they matter in this particular historical moment? This ebook pulls together cutting edge scholarship that highlights artmaking, learning, and teaching to incite further dialogue related to the intersection of youth literacies and social justice. To capture the diverse ways that youth are mobilizing literacy practices toward social justice learning, teaching, and activism, this ebook includes two sections. The first section offers more traditional academic articles by researchers in and out of university contexts, several of which were produced with youth and community partners. In the second section, artistic creations and scholarship of youth working in collaboration with adult teachers and researchers are presented.