Emergent Motifs of Social Justice Storytelling as Pedagogy

Abstract:Recently, young children have begun to be recognized as active citizens of their world. Stories have a great capacity to explain and explore the world through sensuous and poetic knowing. Based on these understandings, the author investigated how her practice as a storyteller with a class of five-six-year-old children might provoke and promote the children's active citizenship. This article explains teaching and learning through a practice of social justice storytelling that highlights significant motifs and some folktales that reflect these motifs. It provides a living theory of social justice storytelling as pedagogy that can serve as a model for others to enhance their living practices and theorizing of practice.