“I Want Others to Know:” Digital Storytelling as Participatory Multiliteracies Pedagogy for Refugee Adults
Abstract
Shifting policies and increased polarization around immigration underscore the need for classroom practices that foster inclusion and resilience, enabling learners to navigate complex sociopolitical landscapes in a new language. Participatory action research has long been understood as a form of adult learning, and participatory arts‐based research (PABR) methods have powerful potential for dispelling stereotypes, cultivating empathy, and highlighting the resilience and cultural, linguistic, and practical knowledge refugees bring to their new communities. Resulting from an ongoing community‐based participatory research project in the Midwestern United States, this paper examines the process and products of a 10‐week PABR workshop with refugee adult English learners through the lens of Critical Refugee Studies. Findings indicate that using photovoice and digital storytelling enabled learners to express complex experiences, affirm their identities as knowledge producers, develop critical consciousness, and challenge dominant refugee narratives by articulating both the structural causes of displacement and their own agency and advocacy for change.