As media has shown more influence to daily life, our society has expanded a recognition of media rights. It leads strongly the society to demand more for media pedagogy. However, the pedagogy today ignores a unique aspect of 'media' and 'pedagogy' whi...
As media has shown more influence to daily life, our society has expanded a recognition of media rights. It leads strongly the society to demand more for media pedagogy. However, the pedagogy today ignores a unique aspect of 'media' and 'pedagogy' which is related with 'gender', and keeps its traditional gender-blinded attitude. Not surprisingly, the attitude of the traditional pedagogy has failed to reflect current position and condition of women which have been excluded by media technology, media structure, and media representation system. In addition to that, it involves possibility of critical risk to reproduce gender discrimination, as it also fails to consider gender-discriminating culture, men-centered knowledge production structure and teaching-learning condition. It is why a media pedagogy needs to consider a feminist view in education as well as media, so as to secure women's media rights and participation, and strengthen women's socio-cultural capability. Hence this study has a goal to find appropriate curriculum, teaching methods, and practical strategies of feminist video media pedagogy. The goal is pursued, firstly, by examining previous academic discussions on a media pedagogy such as feminist media criticism, feminist video activism, and feminist pedagogy; secondly, by suggesting that feminist media pedagogy is necessary in socio-cultural aspect; and thirdly, by analysing cases of feminist video media pedagogy. As one of core methodologies, this study took in-depth interviews with 10 feminist video media pedagogy planners and teachers by questioning them mainly on their pedagogical purposes and directions, unique traits of the curriculum, teaching method, and the teacher's roles and attitudes.
As a result of the interviews, this study acquired several purposes of feminist video media pedagogy. First, through the pedagogy, the women participants will acquire means and skills to express themselves and communicate with each other freely. And through a practice to make video material, the participants will experience various communications and become a subject of media and communication. Second, through the media, the participants reveal a variety of their experiences, feelings, opinions and values, which are signified and shared. The participants come to acknowledge and strengthen their identities through the process. Third, as the women participants express and reveal themselves freely, and share them with the others, they will be able to socialize their daily lives and feelings, build up trust and bond, and then construct their own community. Last, it has a goal to secure women's socio-cultural position, raise up their self-respect, and strengthen women's cultural capability.
With a basis of those purposes, feminist video media pedagogy includes the following five processes: planning of pedagogy, previous program, reading, writing, screening and follow-up activities. At the planning phase, setting up 'safe', 'stable', and 'flexible' pedagogical environment is most important. The previous program is important in that it needs to inspire the participants' interest and motivation, to let the participants including the teachers and the other participants get interests in themselves, and to have them share responsibility for the process. At the reading phase, the participants learn how to read and criticize the mainstream media, just as they do at a traditional media pedagogy process. And then, they watch and experience alternative and feministic video material. At this phase, not only understanding and interpreting media text, but also listening and speaking via media are important. Feminist video media pedagogy emphasizes a process of self-representation, so that the participants raise up their will to self-expression, and re-interpret and share their experiences of new values and views with the others. At the writing phase, the participants acquire technical ability for producing and utilizing media, and learn how to construct a story with their own experiences and express them through video. It works for them as a process of self-representation and communication between them and the teachers and other participants. At this phase, particularly, a process of planning is more important, where the participants face and rediscover their own experiences and feelings, and select one of them to combinate them. It will help them to find an opportunity to cooperate and interact with each other. At the phase of screening and follow-up activities, the participants evaluate and share the results of the pedagogy, and look for an opportunity to communicate with other women and a society. The teachers, as a member of the community, try to keep lateral relation with the participants, support their experiences, and make the pedagogical process equitable, cooperative and thoughtful.
As described, feminist video media pedagogy has a goal to empower female participants with self-respect and various opportunities of communication and experience. feminist video media pedagogy emphasizes not only reading and writing of media, but also watching, speaking, and listening through media as a process of sharing and communication. That is, the feminist video media pedagogy is planned and executed in order to set up a equitable environment where the female participants can acquire rights of self-expression, and recover human communication undermined by media.