Darnel Degand

2020 Hellman Fellow

ddegand@ucdavis.edu

Assistant Professor, Education
UC Davis

Project Title: Challenging Deficit Discourses in Multimodal Arts-Based Education with Counter-Stories from Media Industry Professionals

Project Description: Multimodal arts-based educational experiences are recognized for their ability to connect with students through narratives.  Unfortunately, these spaces often attribute greater importance to White, Eurocentric aesthetics and stories.  They also draw inspiration from professional media environments that are predominantly composed of White men.  In an effort to push back against the perpetuation of stereotypes and biases in multimodal arts-based education, I request  a Fellowship with which I will  use the critical race method of counter-stories to expose, analyze, and challenge majoritarian stories of racial privilege by examining the lives and professional work of individuals from marginalized groups who are in the media industry.