struggles between dominant
struggles between dominant and subordinate social groups?a terrain on
which hegemony, or consent, is fought for and resisted (Hartley, 2002;
Storey, 2006). This Gramscian view of cultural studies is apparent in the work of critical
curriculum scholars, especially those who focus on
popular culture as a site
of public pedagogy. However, much of the public pedagogy literature
emphasizes how popular culture perpetuates dominant values such as
racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, machismo, and violence (Mayo,
2002), rather than its counterhegemonic possibilities. This work includes studies of various sites of public pedagogy, including the practices of cor
porations such as Calvin Klein (Giroux, 1997), Nike (Tavin, Lovelace, Stabler, 8c Maxam, 2003), Disney (Giroux, 1999; Tavin 8c Anderson, 2003),
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326 JENNIFER A. SANDLIN AND JENNIFER L. MILAM
and McDonald’s (Kincheloe, 2002); and the ideologies of films such as
GhostWorld (Giroux, 2003b), Dirty Dancing (Giroux & Simon, 1989), and
Fight Club (Giroux, 2001). Although we see the importance of exploring how people are raced, classed, and gendered through popular culture, we
also believe it is imperative to investigate popular culture as a form of resistance (Denzin, 2003; Duncombe, 2002; Solorzano & Delgado Bernal,
2001). Through our examination, we seek to “criticalize” the notion of
“public pedagogy” and thus expand the concept of ” critical public peda
gogy” (Giroux, 2000, p. 355, emphasis ours). While scholars in other disciplines have recognized culture jamming as
a mode of communication (Harold, 2004) and as consumer resistance
(Handelman, 1999), too little research within education?with some
exceptions, including researchers within critical art education (Darts, 2006;
Freedman, 2003; Kincheloe, 2003; Springgay, 2005; Stuhr, 2003; Tavin,
2003), and educators who enact and research performance pedagogy (Boal, 1985; Denzin, 2003; Garoian, 1999)?has focused on how popular
culture can act as critical pedagogy. This is surprising given the many manifestations of critical public pedagogy occurring in popular and public culture, including the work of activists and artists such as The Guerilla
Girls, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, James Luna, Adrian Piper, and The Yes Men.
However, despite a handful of studies of public pedagogy as a means of
resistance (e.g., Martin, 2005), much work in the area of “critical public
pedagogy” has remained theoretical, consisting mainly of “calls to action”
(Brady, 2006; Giroux, 2000, 2003a, 2003c, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c; Pozo, 2005) and has been harshly criticized for perpetuating “highly abstract and
Utopian” ideals that reinforce repressive myths and perpetuate hegemonic relations (Ellsworth, 1988, p. 298). Moreover, while art education scholars have examined how culture jamming may be used in schools
to promote
civic engagement with images, society, and identities (Tavin etal., 2003), much of this work is new, remains largely theorized, and is not widely