Education and Popular Culture – serie

Considering a variety of female superhero narratives, including World War II-era Wonder Woman comics, the 1970s television programs The Secrets of Isis and The Bionic Woman, and the more recent Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Education and the Female Superhero: Slayers, Cyborgs, Sorority Sisters, and Schoolteachers argues that they share a vision of education as the path to female empowerment. In his analysis, Andrew L. Grunzke examines female superheroes who are literally teachers or students, exploring examples of female superheroes whose alter egos work as schoolteachers or attend school during the workday and fight evildoers when they are outside the classroom. Taking a broader view of education, Grunzke argues that the superheroine in popular media often sees and articulates her own role as being an educator. In these narratives, female superheroes often take it upon themselves to teach self-defense tactics, prevent victimization, and encourage people (especially female victims) to pursue formal education. Moreover, Grunzke shows how superheroines tend to see their relationship with their adversaries as rehabilitative and educative, trying to set them on the correct path rather than merely subdue or dominate them.

This edited volume examines the ways in which the representation of female teachers on television has developed from the advent of the medium up to the present day. Despite the widely feminized nature of the teaching profession, the first depictions of female teachers on television did not occur until over a century later. Contributors analyze a variety of programs spanning time periods, audiences, and genre to provide insight into the past, present, and future trajectory of increasingly multidimensional portrayals of female teachers. Scholars of television, media, gender, women's, and cultural studies will find this book of particular interest.

Through close readings of university fiction, college films, sculptures, and life writing by academics, Derek DiMatteo defines a distinct genre of academic protest literature that reveals how contemporary scholars and artists confront the increasing corporatization of higher education in the USA. This project analyzes representative works by Mohsin Hamid, Jane Smiley, Alex Kudera, John Singleton, Justin Simien, Margaret De Lima, and Michael Dubson among other writers that protest against academic capitalism’s deleterious effects on the public good, BIPOC students and faculty, contingent faculty, and international students. DiMatteo argues that these works should be categorized as protest art within the cultural arm of a long-simmering higher education protest movement. Using protest literature as a lens to argue for a re-evaluation of university fiction as a serious contribution to the higher education reform movement, Academic Dissent adds a cultural dimension to the field of critical university studies and defines the characteristics of academic protest literature, creating a space for education protest within the larger field of American social protest literature.

From the television we watch and the films we consume to the experience of user-generated content, this volume explores various forms of popular culture as teaching tools. Teaching popular culture well hinges on the application, not the mere inclusion of popular culture artifacts. It is the nuance of praxis where theory meets practice, the artful marriage of academic knowledge with popular culture. In this volume, the authors leverage popular culture as a powerful teaching tool that is familiar and accessible. This tool provides a lens for approaching complex academic experiences and elucidating new concepts in applications that have been tested and applied in the classroom. Each essay outlines the theory that underpins elegant integrations of popular culture into learning.

This book illuminates the relationship between autobiography, fan fiction, and education via philosophical, pedagogical, and formative perspectives. How might we consider autobiography and fan fiction writing to be educational? How can we harness the potential of fan fiction writing for pedagogical use? How does the practice of creating and consuming fan fiction/autobiographical texts support the formation of identity? This book brings together contributors from across the world to consider the answers to these questions, and more, with the resulting interpretations and perspectives offering something novel in the linking of these three concepts. Separated into three distinct sections, the chapters in this book look first at philosophical perspectives, moving on to pedagogical approaches, and, finally, the role of fan fiction and autobiography in the formation of individual and social identities. The eclectic mix of arguments, methods, and styles aims to provide insights to readers interested in life writing, popular culture and media studies, and those engaged in the multiple sub-disciplines of education studies.

This book illuminates the relationship between autobiography, fan fiction, and education via philosophical, pedagogical, and formative perspectives. How might we consider autobiography and fan fiction writing to be educational? How can we harness the potential of fan fiction writing for pedagogical use? How does the practice of creating and consuming fan fiction/autobiographical texts support the formation of identity? This book brings together contributors from across the world to consider the answers to these questions, and more, with the resulting interpretations and perspectives offering something novel in the linking of these three concepts. Separated into three distinct sections, the chapters in this book look first at philosophical perspectives, moving on to pedagogical approaches, and, finally, the role of fan fiction and autobiography in the formation of individual and social identities. The eclectic mix of arguments, methods, and styles aims to provide insights to readers interested in life writing, popular culture and media studies, and those engaged in the multiple sub-disciplines of education studies.

In this book, Thomas Albritton explores images of teaching and learning in several giants in the canon of British children’s literature. Identifying traces of Plato, Rousseau, Dewey, and Vygotsky; portrayals of growth mindset and high stakes testing; and evidence of the pedagogical power of inquiry, teacher personality, and project-based learning, Albritton’s analysis results in both a richer appreciation for the literature and a deeper understanding of the educational theory.

This book is an exploration of both mainstream and independent media. Grounded in qualitative methods, this book explores three trans masculine run YouTube channels alongside the streaming productions: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Orange is the New Black, and Transparent. Analyzing and contrasting these narratives illuminates how even the most progressive of pop culture productions fail to present multi-dimensional transgender narratives, thereby intensifying stigma and shame for those outside of the binary (male or female, man or woman, gay or straight). In contrast, trans masculine produced YouTube vlogs, such as those discussed in this book, can help audience members unlearn the ways in which the continuum of sex, gender, and sexual orientation has been simplified and obscured through corporate media. These vlogs thus exemplify the various ways in which independent media acts as an educational tool toward greater awareness, and perhaps empathy, of/for the self and others in regards to sexual identity.

Kevin Costner: America's Teacher examines the role of Costner in educational settings domestically and abroad. Costner’s career over the past 35 years has seen ups and downs: his movies grossed 2 billion dollars in ticket sales worldwide and he has he won/been nominated for several Academy Awards but he also experienced critical and box office failures. Through the films in his oeuvre, Costner has been teaching audiences around the world about the United States--its history, people and culture. Some viewers and scholars recognize this as positive, others as problematic. This book serves as a place for teachers and scholars to explore ways in which Costner may be tapped for research and teaching purposes at all levels of education. It is organized around three large themes: Costner’s baseball films and their connection to Americana; Costner’s films through the more critical lenses of gender and new western scholarship; and Costner’s teaching of teachers, the pedagogical possibilities of his work.