POP UP PEDAGOGY: EXPLORING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN STREET ART, FEMINIST LITERACY PRACTICES AND COMMUNITIES ANNA AUGUSTO RODRIGUES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO FEBRUARY 2018 © Anna Augusto Rodrigues, 2018 ABSTRACT This feminist qualitative research study is driven by two questions: (1) In what ways does feminist street art create pop ups of informal learning in public spaces, both online and offline? (2) How might street art, created by feminist street artists, be considered a feminist literacy practice that provides a point of entry for women, and those who identify as women, to participate in the shaping of community and global conversations? Data from various sources and media were analyzed: interviews with feminist street artists, social media feeds, photographs, online articles, audio interviews, documentaries and my own personal journal entries. I argue that feminist street art, as artifacts, and the actions associated with its production, can be considered a form of feminist public pedagogy that facilitates informal learning outside of traditional educational systems and also encourages women to contribute to the conversations happening in their communities, both online and in real life. Finally, the dissertation discusses how refusing the division between artifact and action supports the emergence of feminist street art as feminist literacy praxis. ii DEDICATION To all the feminist street artists who take down a piece of the patriarchy each time their street art goes up. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people whom I would like to thank for supporting me on this PhD journey. Without them the completion of this dissertation would simply not have been possible. First and foremost, I would like to thank my dissertation supervisor, Dr. Jennifer Jenson, for her immense knowledge and unwavering support for not only this project but also myself as a student. Without Dr. Jenson’s expert guidance this dissertation would have been very different and I’m very grateful to have had her as my supervisor. I would also like to thank my defense committee, Dr. Chloë Brushwood- Rose and Dr. Sandra Schecter, for their insightful feedback and challenging questions that helped shape this dissertation into what it is now. As well, I am very grateful for Dr. Suzanne de Castell’s contributions to my research and wish to thank her as well. My sincere thanks to Dr. Allyson Eamer and Farhia Abdi for their friendship, guidance and endless support throughout the years we’ve known each other. I’m so grateful to have met you both and to be your friend. Finally, I want to acknowledge my family for their help as I’ve pursued my post-secondary education later in life. I want to thank my mother and sister and my two beautiful daughters, Mady and Lana, for providing much needed inspiration on days I was tired and wanted to give up. As well, much thanks to my iv wonderful husband, Phil, who read countless drafts of my writing without ever complaining. He also provided me with the constant support and care I needed to complete such a long and arduous project and for that I am eternally grateful. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ............................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents .................................................................................................... v List of Tables ......................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ..................................................................................................... viii Preface…………………………………………………………………………...1 Chapter One: What Can We Learn from Street Art?......................................6 The Institutionalized Erasure of Women from Society ................................... 14 Women and Online/Offline Public Spaces .............................................. 15 Defining Street Art .......................................................................................... 23 Exploring Feminist Street Art Through an Educational Lens ......................... 33 The Importance of this Research ..................................................................... 34 Chapter Outlines .............................................................................................. 36 Chapter Two: (Re) Applying A Feminist Lens to Public Pedagogy .............. 38 Public Pedagogy .............................................................................................. 38 Public Pedagogy: Informal Institutions and Public Spaces .................... 39 Public Pedagogy: Public Intellectualism and Social Activism ............... 44 Feminist Public Pedagogy ............................................................................... 47 Informal Learning ............................................................................................ 57 Chapter Three: Intersecting Public Art and Literacy Practices .................... 62 Public Art as Educator ..................................................................................... 62 Non-Commissioned Public Art ............................................................... 62 Commissioned Public Art ....................................................................... 65 Expanding the Traditional Notions of Literacy ............................................... 70 Multiliteracies .......................................................................................... 71 Multimodal Literacies ............................................................................. 78 Critical Visual Literacy ........................................................................... 81 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 86 vi Chapter Four: Research Study Design .............................................................. 89 Positioning the Researcher .............................................................................. 89 Engaging in Feminist Qualitative Research .................................................... 97 The Influence of Different Ethnographies ....................................................... 99 Research Methods and Data Collections ....................................................... 104 Interviews .............................................................................................. 104 Social Media Ethnography .................................................................... 105 Visual Research Diary ........................................................................... 107 Participants ........................................................................................... 112 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 113 Analysis Framework: Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis ................... 114 Analyzing the Data ....................................................................................... 117 Phase One: Dissembling the Data ...................................................... 120 Facebook Posts and Comments (Individual Street Artists) ......... 121 Facebook Collectives ................................................................... 123 Other Digital Artifacts .................................................................. 124 Phase Two: Reassembling the Data ................................................... 125 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 127 Chapter Five: Findings: Informal Learning in Public Spaces ..................... 129 Feminist Street Art as Artifacts ..................................................................... 132 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 154 Chapter Six: Findings: Feminist Literacy Practices ..................................... 160 Feminist Street Artists’ Actions as Literacy .................................................. 164 Of Artifacts and Actions: Toward a Feminist Literacy Practice ................... 175 Chapter Seven: Concluding Thoughts ........................................................... 178 Comparing the Data ....................................................................................... 183 Limitations ..................................................................................................... 184 Where do we go from here? Implications and Further Research .................. 185 References .......................................................................................................... 189 Appendix: Interview Questions ....................................................................... 220 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1: [Photograph breakdown of images taken from 2012 to 2017] ................ 109 Table 2: [Feminist Street Artists Interviewed] ....................................................... 112 Table 3: [Facebook Posts and Comments] ............................................................