What's Left Unsaid: Rewriting and Restorying in a South African Teacher Education Classroom

Abstract

This dissertation questioned the role of digital storytelling in a South African teacher education classroom. Foregrounding this study was an examination of the link between student subjectivities and the places they inhabit, with emphasis on how student-driven stories might connect the old South Africa with the new. Further, digital storytelling as a pedagogical endeavor that alters both classroom spaces and student perceptions of “self” and “other” was investigated. Theory underpinning the spatial, cultural, and pedagogical implications of this research stemmed from the scholarship of Henry Giroux (1988, 1992, 1996), Henri Lefebvre (1974/1991), Edward Soja (1971, 1976), and Pierre Bourdieu (1983/1986, 1989). Digital storytelling as both a mode of personal writing and a multimodal genre was framed by contributions from the disciplines of composition and rhetoric and digital storytelling (Benmayor, 2008; Elbow, 2002; Hull & Katz, 2006; Lambert, 2012; Selfe, 2010). Findings from this study point to the importance of orality in the writing process and how transitioning classroom habitus can lead to transforming student perspectives regarding how they feel about themselves, each other, and the work they produce. Data also emerged that highlighted student attitudes towards the public consumption of digital stories. Specifically, students expressed frustration associated with the course requirement mandating that students screen their private stories in a public venue. Lastly, the digital storytelling process inspired students to become active listeners and it heightened their aptitude to empathize with other people, vital characteristics for those who enter the teaching profession.