Call for Proposals, National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE): Media Literacy and Social Justice, Online, July 16 – 18, 2021. Deadline: March 14, 2021.
Media literacy has many connections with social justice; in fact, many would say that media literacy is social justice. Specifically, media literacy helps us to understand the relationships between media, information, and power; this is often referred to as critical media literacy. The process of developing media literacy skills helps us to decipher what a piece of media wants you to believe and why, who benefits from you believing it, whose perspectives are valued in mainstream media, whose perspectives are marginalized or missing, and how we might elevate them. It helps us to unpack stereotypes and circulate ideas about various groups. Media literacy promotes inquiry into the effects that propaganda and mis/dis-information have on our politics and how they perpetuate injustices against marginalized groups, the environment, and our sociopolitical climate. In sum, media literacy helps us to understand issues of systemic inequity and who benefits from their maintenance, while also inspiring action, critical change, and the democratization of media industries. Given all of these connections, NAMLE finds it extremely salient to organize a conference around the topic of Media Literacy + Social Justice.
Proposals will be given special consideration if they (1) articulate concrete connections to social justice, and (2) offer a fresh point of view of an issue within the field of media literacy education.
