Navigating Media Literacy

"Navigating Media Literacy is a work of refreshingly creative scholarship and a fascinating take on teaching and learning. Greenwood more than achieves her aim to provide “gateways into the pedagogical playground of media literacy education.” Teachers and professors will especially appreciate Greenwood’s keen observations of the nuanced ways that students navigate the multifaceted media icon that is Disney, including her willingness to share the things that tripped them up as well as the inquiry strategies that successfully guided students to gradually hone their own critical thinking and reflection skills. Greenwood eschews simple media critiques or defenses, advocating instead for an examination of the connections between students’ lived experiences, Disney’s hyper-constructed “ideal” worlds, and core components of American culture, politics, economics, and history. The result is a welcome and insightful contribution."

Dr. Faith Rogow, Media Literacy Education Maven at InsightersEducation.com

"Navigating Media Literacy is three books in one. Dr. Greenwood offers a coherent argument for media literacy not as a set of skills for evaluating media messages, but as a way of processing all incoming signals through a holistic application of critical thinking. She also gives us the quintessential case history: Disney’s omnipresent, omniverous Black Magic Kingdom of cultural and commercial hegemony. And she presents the playback of a brilliant semester of undergraduate journeying into INeverThoughtAboutThatLand. All in the rarest of academic languages: clear English. Imagine!"

Bob Garfield, co-host of WNYC’s On the Media and author of American Manifesto: Saving Democracy from Villains, Vandals, and Ourselves

"It takes an innovative scholar to enter Disneyland not for the rides and sweets but to explore media literacy pedagogy. Analyzing and critiquing the revered Disney brand takes courage and brilliance. Both of which Dr. Greenwood has a great amount. Navigating Media Literacy: A Pedagogical Tour of Disneyland is a fascinating journey into Disney history and lore through a media literacy lens. More importantly, it’s a deep dive into what a creative, impactful, and student focused classroom can look like. Hearing the students’ voices throughout the pages—their honesty, candor,"
enthusiasm and insight—made me feel as if I was in class with them. While many professors may teach about Disney, Dr. Greenwood teaches through Disney and exemplifies what strong inquiry-based learning can be. Don’t just read this book. Take her class."

Michelle Ciulla Lipkin, Executive Director, National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)

"Dr. Greenwood reveals the creative power of media literacy pedagogy in this important new book. For years, media literacy educators struggled with how to address the House of Mouse in ways that respect students’ emotional engagement with Disney culture while advancing the critical thinking and analysis skills needed to understand its cultural, economic and institutional power. In this pedagogical tour, Greenwood shows readers what media literacy education looks like from inside the classroom. No other book in media literacy education has so fully captured the interplay of dynamic learning activities at the heart of media literacy education. Educators from a variety of fields and disciplines will find plenty of ways to advance their own teaching from the many brilliant ideas found here. This book is truly a masterclass in media literacy education."

Renee Hobbs, Professor of the Harrington School of Communication and Media University of Rhode Island and director of the Media Education Lab

List of figures and tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter One: Mapping Student Perspectives

Chapter Two: Touring the Realms of Media Literacy

Chapter Three: Reconstructing History

Chapter Four: Navigating Audience

Chapter Five: Imagineering Language

Chapter Six: Traversing Authorship and Ownership

Chapter Seven: Dreaming of Representation

Conclusion

About the Author

Index

Vanessa E. Greenwood

Vanessa E. Greenwood (formerly Domine) is a full professor in the School of Communication & Media at Montclair State University. She holds BA and MA degrees in Communication Studies and a PhD in Media Ecology. She is the author of Rethinking Technology in Schools: A Primer and Healthy Teens, Healthy Schools: How Media Literacy Education Can Renew Education in the United States. Her research intersects the fields of communication, technology, and media literacy education.