PHD913 Towards an aesthetic critical literacy

Contents and structure

The course is an elective part of the PhD program “Studier av danning og didaktiske praksiser,” and it develops the potential for critical literacy to engage with the aesthetic experience in a variety of textual forms (verbal, visual, digital, audio, multimodal, multimedia) and to realign our reading practices.

Critical literacy finds its foundation in the work of Paolo Freire, the Brazilian educator and philosopher who wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970). As a form of Bildung, this approach stresses that educators must begin to view literacy “as the relationship of learners to the world” (Freire 1970: viii) in the interaction between texts, contexts and the individual. Central to a critical literacy approach then is the development of multiperspectivity, the disruption of the commonplace, and taking real-world action regarding socio-political issues.

An underexplored aspect in the field of critical literacy is attention to the artistic text and aesthetic experience as Bildung. Taking a poststructuralist stance–thereby extending the notions of reading and text to any act of interpretation or translation–and revisiting critical literacy’s roots in critical theory, this course explores the potential for an aesthetic critical literacy.

This course will thus focus on questions like:

• How can our reading of a variety of media translate to read-world engagement and social change?
• What are the possibilities for aesthetic critical literacy to shift and reorganize existing frameworks of meaning?
• How can a critical engagement with the aesthetic complicate our established ways reading, seeing, listening?

Learning Outcome

The student:

• Is in the forefront of knowledge regarding the issues and methods of an aesthetic approach to critical literacy in a tradition of Bildung
• Can contribute to the development of critical aesthetic literacy in variety of media
• Can develop new practices of textual engagement in teaching, learning and research with an awareness of the role of the individual in global and local contexts
• Can apply an interdisciplinary approach to aesthetic critical literacy

The student:

• Can formulate problems, plan and undertake research and scholarly work of a high international standard within the field of aesthetic critical literacy
• Can critically reflect on key debates in critical literacy and the aesthetic in relation to reading practices across different media
• Can utilize a variety of genres and textual forms for the development of multiperspectivity and an awareness of the role of the self as both global and local.
• Can apply an interdisciplinary approach to aesthetic critical literacy both in research and in teaching practices

The student:

• Can execute and communicate research work in compliance with the research field’s ethical premises
• Can take initiative in developing research in the field of literary, cultural and educational studies
• Can challenge hegemonic ways of reading, seeing and listening

Teaching methods

Teaching in the subject will normally take place in one semester. The course can also be held over shorter, more intensive periods, with consideration for students from other institutions. The course will consist of six plenary lectures that lead into and form the basis of open, reflection-oriented discussions. Another important feature of the course will be writing workshops in which registered students will give and receive feedback from their peers on their respective projects in connection with the main themes of the course. During the course students will prepare a text that may form the basis of a conference paper.

Compulsory learning activities

Students will give an oral presentation as preparation for a conference paper.

Assessment

Based on the content and literature from the course, students will individually prepare and submit a text of 4000-5000 words that is equivalent to an academic conference paper in terms of format and quality. Students will also be encouraged to link the paper to their individual PhD projects. Participation in an academic conference is not, however, a prerequisite for evaluation. The written work must achieve the mark of a B or higher to pass the course. Assessment will be carried out by internal and external examiners based on criteria developed in line with the learning outcomes for the course.