| Dr. Shirley R. Steinberg | |
|---|---|
| Born | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Education, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Popular Culture, Critical Pedagogy |
| Institutions | McGill University |
| Alma mater | Pennsylvania State University[1] |
| Known for | Theory of Critical Multiculturalism,[1] Notion of Kinderculture,[1] and Notion of Christotainment[1] |
| Influences | Antonio Gramsci, Paulo Freire, John Fiske, Aaron D. Gresson, Dorothy Heathcote |
Shirley Ruth Steinberg (born in Baltimore, Maryland) is a university educator who is currently teaches at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, in 2010, she was a research professor at the University of Barcelona. She is known for her notions of Critical Multiculturalism, Kinderculture, Christotainment, and Postformal thinking, all developed with writing partner Joe L. Kincheloe. Since 1995, Steinberg's books have received international acclaim and awards from such organizations as the American Educational Studies Association and The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. In 2006 she was The Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for the University of Lethbridge.[2] She is the of director of The Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy. The past decade, Steinberg has used media literacy and critical pedagogy to work with youth, and to develop a notion of critical leadership.
Contents |
Critical Multiculturalism is an idea that draws upon the evolving theoretical position emerging in the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory in the 1920s,[3] The framework for Critical Multiculturalism was laid out in Steinberg's 2001 book, Multi/Intercultural Conversations: A Reader, but originally discussed in Kincheloe's and Steinberg's book, Changing Multiculturalism and further refined in her book, Diversity: A Reader, (2009). In Dr. Stephen Bigger's 1998 review of Changing Multiculturalism, he writes, "Multiculturalism, a problematic term, is clarified into a position called ‘critical multiculturalism’, described with approval inasfar as it explores “the way power shapes consciousness” (p. 25) and has an “emancipatory commitment to social justice and the egalitarian democracy that accompanies it” (p. 26) in contrast to “a moral emptiness to pedagogies that attempt to understand the world without concurrently attempting to change it”. Teachers need to have experienced transformation if they are to teach transformatively. The pedagogy comes out of the concern with the intersection of power, identity and knowledge (p. 29).[4]
Steinberg's courses revolve around the critical pedagogical approach to media, as defined in a recent book co-edited with Donaldo Macedo: Media Literacy: A Reader (New York: Peter Lang, 2007). The book claims that it provides a critical understanding of media culture designed to develop the ability to interpret media as well as understand how it emotionally affects individuals. The book is based on the notion that while many strongly believe that humans exercise agency, that there are social, cultural, and political forces that affect agency. According to Steinberg, one's conception of media literacy analyzes the ways everyday decisions are encoded and inscribed by emotional and bodily commitments relating to the production of desire and mood.
Steinberg is also known for her notion of kinderculture, first introduced with Joe L. Kincheloe in Kinderculture: The Corporate Construction of Childhood (Boulder, Co: Westview Press, 1997). The book included her chapter, "The Bitch Who has Everything," an examination into the cultural studies of Barbie. The book was published in a second edition in 2004. Steinberg (and Kincheloe) outline the premise of the concept of kinderculture as using pleasure as its ultimate weapon, the corporate children's consumer culture, which we label 'kinderculture,' commodifies cultural objects and turns them into things to purchase rather than objects to contemplate (11). The third edition of the book is edited solely by Steinberg.[5]
For the past decade, Steinberg has written about urban youth, and the distinct classification created when considering young men and women in North American city centers.[6] Her work with hip hop resulted in an instructional dvd with Priya Parmar from Brooklyn College.[7] She also edited "Teen Life in Europe," a candid look at the unique features of teens in different countries.[8] As senior editor of "Contemporary Youth Culture," Steinberg and authors discuss new youth culture in regard to topics which youth, themselves, deem important. This book won a Library Choice award.[9]
Steinberg's book, Christotainment: Selling Jesus through Popular Culture, co-edited with Joe L. Kincheloe (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2009), explores her idea of Christotainment by examining the ways in which principles, beliefs, and religious practices supported or constructed by Christian fundamentalist groups are promoted or bought and sold through the use of popular or mainstream media productions.[10][11]
Steinberg was the co-author of the theory of Post-Formalism with Joe L. Kincheloe. This theory argues that while twentieth century educational psychology has made important advances, a time for reassessment has arrived. Steinberg contends that recent years have seen the rise of neo-Vygotskian analysis and situated cognition within the discipline of cognitive psychology. Steinberg and Kincheloe expand upon these theories to develop the specific connections between the social and the psychological dimensions of learning theory and Educational Psychology.[12] Postformal thinking, according to Steinberg and Kincheloe write, concerns questions of meaning and purpose, multiple perspectives, human dignity, freedom, and social responsibility. Curriculum and instruction based on postformalism involves detecting problems, uncovering hidden assumptions, seeing relationships, deconstructing, connecting logic and emotion, and attending to context.[13]
Appelbaum, B. (1999). Review of Joe Kincheloe, Shirley Steinberg, Nelson Rodriguez, and Ronald Chennault’s White Reign: Deploying Whiteness in America. Educational Review: A Journal of Book Reviews.[14]
Aumeerally, N. (2006). Review of Joe L. Kincheloe and Shirley R. Steinberg's The Miseducation of the West: How Schools and the Media Distort Our Understanding of the Islamic World. Comparative Education Review, 50, 3.
Bigger, S. (1998). Review of Joe L. Kincheloe and Shirley R. Steinberg's Changing Multiculturalism. Westminster Studies in Education.[15]
Blake, N. (2004). Review of Joe L. Kincheloe and Shirley R. Steinberg's Students as Researchers: Creating Classrooms that Matter. Teaching Theology & Religion, 4, 1, 55-62.
Broadfoot, P. (1998). Review of Joe L. Kincheloe, Shirley R. Steinberg, and Aaron D. Gresson III's Measured Lies: The Bell Curve Examined Comparative Education Review, 42, 3, 372-374
King, D. (2006). A Cultural Studies Approach to Teaching the Sociology of Childhood. Sociation Today. 4, 1.
Knobel, M. (2004). Review of Shirley Steinberg and Joe Kincheloe's 19 Urban Questions: Teaching in the City. Educational Review: A Journal of Book Reviews.[16]
Leech, N. (2007). Research and the "Inner Circle": The Need to Set Aside Counterproductive Language. Educational Researcher, 36, 4, 199-203.
Oakes, E. (2006). Review of Shirley R. Steinberg & Joe L. Kincheloe's Kinderculture: The Corporate Construction of Childhood. 2nd Edition. College Literature, 33, 3, 212-216.
Kincheloe, Joe L. (2004). "Critical Pedagogy Primer." New York: Peter Lang. (2nd edition, 2008).
Steinberg is the author and editor of many books, including: