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Examining Intersectionality in Multimodal Education

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WHAT IS INTERSECTIONALITY?

  • The Center for Intersectional Justice defines intersectionality as, "the ways in which systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects" (n.p.). 
  • Examples of Intersectionality are being both a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as being a Person of Color; these two identities cannot be removed from one another
HOW DOES INTERSECTIONALITY LINK TO MULTIMODAL EDUCATION?
  • Using Jason Palmeri's research "Multimodality Before and Beyond the Computer" as a framework to understand intersectionality will help guide the connection between the existing systems of oppression and where multimodality could be headed
    • Palmeri creates an overarching argument that multimodality within an intersectional framework has always existed, it's just been continually silenced; and if any education and change are going to occur these individuals (people of color, queer individuals, etc., ) must not be silenced (pg. 27). 
    • However, Palmeri continues that current multimodal practices reinforce hierarchies, but scholarship and research point to contemporary pedagogy shifting toward change (pg. 30). 
    • This change becomes evident in Palmeri's research when he analyzes how The Black Arts Movement sparked contemporary multimodality to offer a voice to those who were previously suppressed (pg. 31). 
    • The connection is made clear by the end of the research when Palmeri notes that individuals must continue to challenge racist power structures using these contemporary theories to offer a place for those who have been pushed out even while making contributions (pg. 32). 
Photography featured during The Black Arts Movement from The New York Times
EXAMPLES OF INTERSECTIONAL MULTIMODALITY THAT HAVE RECEIVED BACKLASH OR BEEN CULTURALLY SILENCED
Photo from: WikiArt
  • Artist Harmonia Rosales created "The Creation of God" modeled after "The Creation of Adam" in 2017, featuring a Black Woman as God and the rest of the ensamble as Black individuals as well
  • While the painting was widely aknowledged and appreciated by communities of color, by white individuals it was tagged as, "[as a] disgrace, disgusting, [and part of] cultural appropriation"
Video from: Pop-Up Magazine
  • "Going Varsity in Mariachi" premiered at The 2023 Sundance Movie Festival as a documentary following competitive High School mariachi teams
  • While the documentary was well recieved by Latin(e/x) critics by others it "needed more, there wasn't any depth"
Photo taken from: Your Gay Cousins Wesbite
  • "Your Gay Cousins" is a weekly 30-minute podcast that was first released in 2019
  • This podcast focuses on Latin(e/x) and Queer culture and is not made for traditional "white-cisgender heterosexual" audiences, instead it cultivates "familia" using authentic narrative storytelling
IMPLICATIONS OF INTERSECTIONALITY WITHIN MULTIMODAL EDUCATION
  • While discussions are occuring within Academia and the classroom, real-world examples of intersectionality within mutlimodal education are being shut down--- this is clear with the examples above, as they have recieved backlash or minimal coverage to reach further audiences
    • Additionally, a real-world example of an implication is occuring within the Oscars again. The LA Times explains on January 24, 2023 that, "#OscarsSoWhite is trending again as 77% of Oscar nominations are going to white individuals." It is silence and erasure in its simplest form. 
  • There must be continous strides to uncover hidden artifacts and to allow these stories the space(s) they deserve. We must continue to give back voices to the suppressed voiceless.