Reconfiguring differences: Radicalizing popular culture pedagogy

Drawing from postcolonial studies, feminist scholarship, and queer theory, the authors reveal how the S.T.A.R. Summer Writing Program at Northern Arizona University created by Gray-Rosendale (and built around the course “Rhetoric in the Media”) addresses issues of identity. In order to build community across differences, they argue for examining and fostering moments of theoretical, curricular, and pedagogical hybridity and intersectionality. The chapter presents detailed information about the curriculum, the writing and reading assignments, and specific pedagogical exercises to foster discussion about complexities surrounding identity. The chapter closes with suggestions for ways to teach popular culture that reconfigure how we understand difference.