harry potter & cultural acupuncture: using social media and pop culture to ignite meaningful...
TRANSCRIPT
& Cultural Acupuncture:
Using Social Media and Pop Culture to Ignite Meaningful Activism
Dr. Erin RyanKennesaw State University
Youth & Civic/Political Engagement
O Concern about young people’s disconnection from public life
O BUT, scholars show younger generation drawn toward issues closely tied to personal interests/social networks
O Popular/participatory culture mobilize them to social action
Participatory Culture
“Culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for sharing creations, & some kind of informal membership whereby experienced participants pass along knowledge to novices”
Fan ActivismO “Forms of civic engagement &
political participation that emerge from within fan culture itself, often in response to the shared interests of fans, often conducted through the infrastructure of existing fan practices & relationships, & often framed through metaphors drawn from popular & participatory culture”
O Nerdfighters: “Decrease world suck.”
• Origin:• Founder Andrew Slack: Harry Potter would fight
injustice in our world the way he did in his• What if we could get all the HP fans around the world
to be a Dumbledore’s Army for our world?• Awaken the media/government
• Mapped the issues in HP world & related to our world• A “novel” approach to activism: make it playful,
accessible, and exciting• Started on social media; grew into a movement with
worldwide chapters
Cultural AcupunctureO Fantasy is not an escape from our
world, but an invitation to go deeper in it
O Our culture dreams through our storiesO When we work with our stories, we’re
doing cultural dreamworkO When we direct that energy in specific
ways, we’re doing cultural acupunctureO “Comic-Con for social justice”
O “The orphan vs. the empire”
Success StoriesO 2009 : Magical Acts of Kindness
(MAK) campaignO 2010: Helping Haiti HealO 2011: The Deathly Hallows campaignO 2012: Equality for the WinO 2013: Accio Books!O 2014: Not in Harry’s NameO 2015: Odds in Our Favor
(#myhungergames)
Imagine Better…
