On June 27, 2022, I had the pleasure of welcoming Media Literacy advocates from around the world to my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Alongside the International Council for Media Literacy (IC4ML), I helped host the fourth International Media Literacy Research Symposium (IMLRS) founded by our President and my supervisor Dr. Belinha De Abreu.
At first, it seemed a coincidence that Madison, the city in which I was raised and the isthmus on which I spent so many years exploring, was to host the global conference. I have long adored the four lakes that surround my city. I spent most of my life in the presence of these lakes, and I learned to swim in their waters while thick, verdant seaweed grabbed at my legs. Nevertheless, I felt that these lakes must pale in comparison to the glistening, blue oceans that characterize Portugal where the symposium has previously been held.
It was no coincidence that IMLRS had selected Madison to host its fourth iteration. Madison is not just my hometown. It is home to the campus where Jessie McCanse and Dr. Leslie Spence forged the early beginnings of IC4ML. It is the place where they nurtured media education and grew from a chapter of the American Association of University Women to the American Council for Better Broadcasts to the National Telemedia Council (NTC) and finally, in 2021, to IC4ML.
No, Madison is not just my hometown. It was Marieli Rowe’s hometown. Or as I’ve grown to understand, it was more of her homebase throughout her many adventures. In Madison, Marieli served as NTC’s Executive Director and as the Editor of the Journal for Media Literacy. For decades, she dedicated herself to promoting Media Literacy and to sharing her time and space with educators, producers, researchers, and advocates. I first learned about NTC in my hometown’s newspaper. From Marieli Rowe’s obituary.
It was no coincidence that my hometown hosted the 4th IMLRS. My hometown, as I learned, is a storied place where proponents of Media Literacy unwaveringly devoted themselves to articulating and advancing their values.
I write about place so fervently because place, the land that welcomed us and the space we shared, was so integral to my impression of the 4th IMLRS. Aside from my enthusiasm to introduce participants to the place that molded me, two reasons integrated the theme of place into a conference otherwise about Media Literacy.
The First Nations Cultural Landscape Tour illuminated the first reason. The pre-conference tour, led by Aaron Bird Bear, the Director of Tribal Relations for UW-Madison, detailed the history of indigeneity from time immemorial, European settlement, American colonialism, and the forced removal and genocide of the twelve Indigenous Nations of Wisconsin. He informed those of us on the tour that the city of Madison was built on Ho-Chunk land and that many of the buildings that comprise the UW-Madison campus were constructed on top of burial mounds. Bird Bear then asked us to examine how UW-Madison has memorialized this history and to interrogate the language that both glorifies and disavows this violence. Bird Bear utilized the tools of Media Literacy and he advised that we do the same.
The First Nations Cultural Landscape Tour transformed my relationship with my hometown and it motivated me to further reconsider my relationship with land- with place.
As I sat through presentations the following day, this approach stayed with me. It became especially pertinent as I listened to discussions on EcoMedia Literacy or “the emerging area of media literacy that teaches the integrated relationship between media and living systems” as defined by Board Member Antonio Lopez. The 4th IMLRS was the first Media Literacy conference to include a strand concentrated on EcoMedia Literacy and its devotion to redefining the connection between media and place.
The second reason as to why place was situated so poignantly in my mind has much to do with a quite recent history. Since the advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic, place to me often felt restricting and isolated. It became something to approach cautiously and tentatively. Place ceased to be collective or communal; it was no longer something to share.
Two years after the third IMLRS was canceled, the opportunity to once again safely share space (real, tangible space) with fellow Media Literacy advocates from around the world was thrilling. I heard presentations about democracy in Kosovo, interactive exhibitions in Michigan, the response to COVID in Romania, and nature in Houston. I cherished the opportunity to stand alongside educators, researchers, and organizers from far and wide, and I learned so much.
Two years ago, congregating in this way felt distant and oddly archaic. But, there we all were… in one place two years later.
There is a certain power in sharing space. Gathered all together, I was able to see strength, fortitude, and hope in our numbers. There at the conference, so many of us were advocating for the same cause, juxtaposing our various perspectives, experiences, and expertise yet holding up the same values. Spanning various languages, nations, credentials, and beliefs, we made space to converse and collaborate.
There we were in my storied hometown … sharing ideas and sharing space.
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