In our call for Blog Carnival 24: Multimodality, Social Justice, and Human-Centered Praxis, we sought contributions that leverage multimodal frameworks to foster social justice and center human experiences across lines of difference. We were impressed by the number of scholars, teachers, writing center tutors, program administrators, and practitioners who engage in justice work through their teaching, tutoring, leadership, and scholarly practices across diverse areas and contexts. At a contentious time marked by challenges to the very values and commitments that have sustained our field, this turnout is both heartening and galvanizing; it reaffirms that our community remains steadfast in putting people first and pursuing justice, inclusion, equity, empathy, and care while also encouraging us to take up more collective action.
To provide examples and models that our community can adopt, adapt, and expand, we have decided to publish 14 blog posts covering a wide range of areas across different fields. They will appear in two parts. Part I, which we will begin publishing the first week of April, with one post a day, includes six blog posts that incorporate multimodal frameworks and praxis:
- to create inclusive learning spaces for neurodivergent learners in asynchronous writing tutoring (Emmy Ammirati);
- to redistribute authority and foster equitable opportunities for engagement through silence as a multimodal, embodied practice (Leigh Bennett);
- to counter AI‑driven linguistic flattening through translingual experimentation across modes (Jainab Tabassum Banu);
- to enact a critical embodied pedagogy that honors multilingualism and linguistic diversity at a Hispanic‑Serving Institution on the U.S.–Mexico border (Julia Hettiger);
- to affirm students’ multiple ways of meaning‑making and foster accessible multimodal design through what the author terms “semiotic border‑crossing” (Gideon Kwawukumey);
- to cultivate critical language awareness and rhetorical agency through a multi‑genre sequence that centers lived experiences (Shelby Ramsey).
During the last week of April, we will share details about Part II and begin publishing it. Stay tuned!
– Ali and Thais
