ERIC Number: EJ1048731
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1559-9035
EISSN: N/A
Funds of (Difficult) Knowledge and the Affordances of Multimodality: The Case of Victor
Becker, Ava
Journal of Language and Literacy Education, v10 n2 p17-33 Fall 2014
Drawing on semi-structured interview data, this paper examines one man's multimodal engagement with the emotionally difficult aspects of his Chilean heritage. It builds on recent work (e.g., Marshall & Toohey, 2010) that has begun to unearth the intersection between funds of knowledge (González, Moll, & Amanti, 2005), difficult knowledge (Britzman, 1998, 2000), multiliteracies (New London Group, 2000), and multimodality (Kress, 1997) in an attempt to call attention to the shifting nature of what is considered "difficult" about difficult knowledge, and to the role of multimodality in both accessing and making sense of the difficult in one's funds of knowledge. The analysis reveals that young people might be purposefully kept away from punctuations on their community's semiotic chain that are deemed difficult (e.g., images, documentaries) not only by schools, but also by family members for whom such punctuations invoke painful memories. The paper concludes with a call to teachers to be ever mindful of reproducing knowledge hierarchies in their classrooms, which may be partly mitigated by discussing the affordances and challenges of drawing on students' funds of (difficult) knowledge with families and communities.
Descriptors: Multiple Literacies, Refugees, Immigrants, Cultural Background, Difficulty Level, Knowledge Level, Semiotics, Case Studies, Semi Structured Interviews, Foreign Countries, Cultural Capital
Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. 315 Aderhold Hall, Athens, GA 30602. Tel: 706-542-7866; Fax: 706-542-3817; e-mail: jolle@uga.edu; Web site: http://jolle.coe.uga.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A