Young people around the world are engaging in innovative literacy practices through their creation of, and engagement with, spoken word poetry. From community‐based slams to school‐based workshops to online videos, this genre has become increasingly popular with marginalized youth who have an opportunity to have their often‐silenced voices heard and receive instantaneous feedback on their creative work. Situated in Sydney, Australia, the authors used a multicase embedded research approach to investigate how spoken word poetry workshops employ culturally sustaining pedagogy, create a third space for literacy development, and encourage diverse students to develop and strengthen their critical literacy skills. The authors highlight a rich array of diverse voices, explore the instrumental role of mentor poets, and provide teachers with practical approaches to incorporating culturally sustaining pedagogy while enhancing students’ critical literacy.
Spoken word poetry encourages youth to engage in identity construction, resist oppression and construct counternarratives. Through participating in community‐based slams, school workshops and online events, young people can take part in visible activism through exploring their own identity, power and agency and seeing themselves as change agents. In this article, we share longitudinal case studies of two youth poets based in Sydney, Australia. As young women of colour coming of age in troubled times, we consider how poetry offers them a way to engage in story telling and to create counternarratives. We also explore how spoken word allows them to explore their cultural identities, offer testimony about their lived experiences and participate in activism. We situate our research within the COVID‐19 pandemic and critically reflect on how the shift online has offered new opportunities whilst also presenting unexpected challenges for youth poets.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.