The Creative Debut: Privileging student voice

Dr Susan Flynn

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2016)

Case Studies

The Creative Debut: Privileging student voice

Published 2016-07-28

Dr Susan Flynn

Dr Susan Flynn
London College of Communication

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Abstract

‘The Critical Practitioner: Writing for the Media’ is a final year unit in BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Cultures at London College of Communication. This unit comprises the curation of a digital portfolio of media writing, including a reflective essay centred on the writing process. This year (2015-16), the students published a collection titled ‘The Creative Debut’. This case study reflects on the rationale for the students’ self publishing project and on the success of adopting Freirean pedagogy to facilitate this; of privileging students’ own personal narratives so that writing can be a transformative experience. It seeks to illustrate how privileging students’ own life narratives is a vital form of critical multiculturalism.

Keywords

Writing, Cultural Studies, Pedagogic Practice, Friere, Critical Multiculturalism

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Author Biography

Dr Susan Flynn

Dr Susan Flynn is an associate lecturer in Media Communications and Contemporary Media Cultures at London College of Communication, specialising in screen studies, cultural surveillance, diversity and critical multiculturalism. She received her MA and PhD from University College Dublin where she taught at the Equality Studies Centre. Susan is co-editor of the upcoming Spaces of Surveillance, States and Selves (Palgrave Macmillan 2017) and leads the ongoing ‘Other Voices’ project, which is involved in critical pedagogy and multiculturalism.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1993) Sociology in question. Translated by R. Nice. London: Sage.
Caldarini, M., Colle, J., Dias, E., Garcia Ojeda, L., Halimi, R., Lewis, L., Nabanja, I., Sabino, A., Smith, B., Uddin, L. (2016) The Creative Debut. London: London College of Communication. [Available from School of Media, Room T903, London College of Communication]
Devlin, K. (2016) ‘Is the academic essay becoming a fossil through lack of authorial voice? The case for more stylish and exploratory writing’, Spark, 1(1). pp. 34-40. Available at: https://sparkjournal.arts.ac.uk/index.php/spark/article/view/4 (Accessed: 4 July 2016).
Freire, P. (2000) Pedagogy of the oppressed. Rev. Edn. Translated by M. B. Ramos. London: Continuum.