“Just Like I Have Felt”: Multimodal Counternarratives in Youth-Produced Digital Media

Abstract

A key concept that we introduce and develop in this article is multimodal counternarrative, the way in which individuals employ multiple modes of representation to push back against oppressive master narratives. In order to identify and analyze this form of counternarrative, we develop and explicate an analytic tool called multimodal microanalysis. We use multimodal microanalysis to study a digital poem produced by a high school sophomore who identifies as gay, Asian, and a second-generation immigrant. Our analysis indicates that this young man uses digital media in four key ways to create his multimodal counternarrative: by remixing stories and traditions, mixing modes, using functional load to foreground identity, and by creating dialogic space for his audience. We conclude that youth can create counternarratives in school contexts by employing multiple modes within digital media production to simultaneously highlight and resist cultural ideologies that may otherwise function to marginalize them or sile...