Critical Geographic Media Literacy in Geography Education: Findings from the MiDENTITY Project in Austria

Abstract

Media are the arena where the discursive struggle over identities, cultures and geographies is carried out. Media organize our ways of thinking and acting vis-à-vis our ideas and perceptions of “us” and of “others.” With the proliferation of participative information technology, (young) media users reinforce or challenge media events through activities like sharing, liking and commenting. The MiDENTITY project addresses this phenomenon from a pedagogic perspective and provides a case study on the implementation of Critical Geographic Media Literacy in geography education. Its central purpose is to empower students to develop a self-determined way of media use thereby reflecting on their own online practices of social in- and exclusion.