The Learning Units designed by the Kampala, Zurich and Maseru working groups emanate from different working contexts though they are related as kin in that each of them deploys exercises to encourage participants to understand that the texts and media we confront in our lives are never neutral, rather they are imbued with particular positionalities, politics and histories. Through unique and locally oriented hands-on approaches that dip into archives and media, these three Learning Units align in asking participants to consider what hidden codes, meanings and epistemologies may lurk within information presented. By challenging participants in creative ways to read beyond the literal content before them into social and historical contexts, any ideologies at play in the materials can be laid bare. In the process, participants can become better equipped to question and resist the status quo information they consume and reflexively manage their own learning and content creation. By strengthening critical literacies, identified colonial perspectives may be de-centered and radical new possibilities for social engagement and creative production may be born.



By Zachary Rosen


FOLLOW THIS PATH


Learning Unit – Kampala – Experiments in Injecting Critical Readings of the History of Arts and Design Education into an Introductory Course in Publication Design


Learning Unit – Geneva/Zurich – Reengaging Freire: Decoding and Re-coding Freire’s “Generative Images” and Critical Arts Education


Learning Unit – Maseru – Decolonising Literacy with Critical Pedagogy