Migrant Youth Identity in Post-Referendum
Scotland
Perspectives on youth and media: participation and
engagement
Dr Mandy Powell
mandy.powell@durham.ac.uk
A question of literacy?
“what it means to think of literacy as social practice ... the
recognition of multiple literacies, varying according to time
and space, but also contested in relations of power ...
problematising what counts as literacy at any time and
place and asking “whose literacies” are dominant and
whose are marginalised or resistant” (Street, 1985)
“a broader notion of literacy – a notion which is concerned
with cultural and communicative competencies,
irrespective of the medium in which they are exercised ... a
view of literacy which sees it in social, cultural and political
terms, and not simply as a set of technical or intellectual
skills” (Buckingham, 1993)
Why does it matter?
 media education: cultural, critical and creative
 new literacies: knowledge generated through everyday
participation in communities
 media policy: Communications Act 2003, BBC Charter 2016
 media and information literacy: citizenship
 European Commission & UNESCO
What is media literacy?
“the ability to access, understand and create communications in
a variety of contexts” (Ofcom, 2003)
“the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and create messages
across a variety of contexts” (Livingstone et al, 2004)
from access/use “to include more of the ‘understand’ and
‘create’ skills” (BBC, 2013)
Developing Media Literacy: towards a model of
learning progression (RES-062-23-1292)
 critical understanding, creative activity and cultural diversity
 how does knowledge relate to experience?
 what counts as valid or legitimate knowledge?
 how are desirable exchange rates negotiated?
 critical analysis (reading) and creative production (writing)
 what tools are needed to make meaning across modes and
media and how are these impacted by social and cultural
identities?
Questions & Methods
 what might we expect young people to be capable of
understanding about media?
 how does media literacy as cultural practice relate to social
and cultural identity?
 5-16 year olds tracked over three years in two contrasting
settings
 four themes: language, representations, audiences &
institutions
 four operational contexts: film, celebrity, social media & news
Culture, criticality & creativity
 everyday cultural practices and experiences in the
constellations of communities with which young people
participate
 developing a broad understanding of the social, political &
economic dimensions of media through dialogues of enquiry
 developing opportunities for young people to communicate
with audiences both within and beyond their ‘core’
communities
Developing new literacies for participation and
engagement: boundary crossing
 everyday informal media practices and cultures: resource for
making connections with constellations of communities
 beyond platform and form: important insights into experience
offered through full range of communicative modes eg image
and sound as well as text
 beyond digital natives: critical and creative analytical and
production skills (reading and writing) need to be supported
by policy
 beyond citizenship: authentic cultural production contexts
matters
Social justice, equality and diversity: what are
the barriers?
 over-simplified media representations make it difficult to
engage with individual experiences and practices and
participate beyond situated communities
 socio-cultural assets often regarded as deficits and either
hidden or misrecognised or the exchange value is perceived as
undesirable (boundary-crossing)
 cultural hierarchies prevail: the sacred and the profane?
marginalised (ie under-represented socio-cultural groups) young
people’s ‘situated’ knowledges and practices and their
capacity to participate using different communicative modes
(ie across platforms and forms) is a societal resource routinely
misunderstood and overlooked
What do we know about youth media literacy
in post-referendum Scotland?
 what is the potential of media (articulated simultaneously as
texts and technologies) for social justice, equality and
diversity?
 what are the implications for research, education, industry
and policy?