Engaging "New Literacies" of Youth in Urban Schools

Center Events: Speaker Series

Dr. Jabari Mahiri (University of California at Berkeley)
Engaging "New Literacies" of Youth in Urban Schools
September 7, 2006

Jabari Mahiri, Professor of Literacy and Education at the University of California at Berkeley, will be visiting MSU to consult with faculty on Urban Literacy and Education. Dr. Mahiri is the author of several articles and books on youth culture and urban literacy, including Shooting for Excellence: African American and Youth Culture in New Century Schools (1998), What They Don't Learn in School. Literacy in the Lives of Urban Youth ( 2004), and Teaching in New Times: Bridging Diversity and Achievement (forthcoming).

In his talk, Mahiri will address the nature of contemporary youth culture influenced both by the digital age and the age of hip-hop. He will show how schools need to change in this new century to better accommodate and build upon these new literacies that are the substance of experiences for many contemporary youth.