Open Access Trans Affective mediation Feeling Our Way From Paper to Digitized Zines and Back Again

by Sameena Eidoo

In 2019, I was presented with the opportunity to teach a class titled, "Anti-Discriminatory Teaching", to instructor candidates (TCs), future teachers, whom I had previously taught in an educational research methods form. These TCs were already familiar with my pedagogical approach and receptive to an accent on humanizing and decolonizing approaches to educational research (due east.chiliad., Paris & Winn, 2013; Constrict, 2009). The culminating consignment for the educational enquiry methods grade is a research paper, then I wanted to create a learning experience in "Anti-Discriminatory Education" that activated TCs' capabilities equally makers and re-makers of cognition in a different way.

Considering the course interrogates and challenges multiple forms of discriminatory practices within education and engages critical approaches to theory, research, and pedagogy, I reminded TCs this grade would bring to the surface patterns of internalized dominance and internalized oppression. I invited them to detect their responses to course texts and discussions, and to use their responses to go in to gain knowledge of self. I allocated form time to reflect on and reply quietly on the course content and related discussions, and to explore alternative modes of expression and production inside an academic surroundings. In this commodity, I reflect on 2 offerings of the class in which TCs made their own zines every bit role of a critically reflexive practice. This practice recognizes teaching as an ethical and political action. Didactics involves critically examining how one'southward social context and positionality impacts how one relates with others, peculiarly when there are ability imbalances—a reality time to come teachers must confront in elementary and secondary schools (Benade, 2016; Freire, 1998).

Critically reflexive practice recognizes teaching as an ethical and political action.

A Different Kind of Cultural Product

The master requirement for the zine assignment was that TCs engage with course texts and themes, besides equally their experiential knowledge to develop narratives of who they were becoming every bit hereafter teachers, recognizing that teachers are in a state of "ever becoming" (Benade, 2016, p. 2; Freire, 1998). Zines are "not-commercial, non-professional, small-scale-circulation magazines which their creators produce, publish, and distribute themselves" (Duncombe, 1997, p. 6). Daniel C. Brouwer and Adela C. Licona (2016) provide a partial history of the many origin stories of zines and their affective dimensions:

Common plot points include science fiction fan publications from the 1930s to the 1950s and the proliferation of zines in relation to the Riot Grrrl music and civilisation scene of the 1990s. As Licona (2012) observes, "even so others trace the emergence of zines to alternative, of-color, and feminist presses as well equally to liberation movements" (p. 2). As cocky-published, self-circulated, typically heterodox, and "built-in-print" texts, zines pulse equally "underground" sites (Duncombe, 1997), as "pocket-sized literature" (Leventhal, 2006), as "third-space" (Licona, 2012), and every bit "counterpublics" (Brouwer, 2005). Melancholia dynamics ripple through these conceptualizations–zines equally sites of rage, dispossession, or rejection, as sites of articulation of management action politics and critical-cultural politics, for the cultivation of coalitional consciousness and transformational practices, for artful innovations, hilarity and applesauce, and so much more than. (p. 74)

Although zine origins include "alternative, of-color, and feminist presses" and liberation movements, some zines and zine cultures center whiteness. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (2009) reflects on the alienating whiteness of zine civilization she had experienced:

It's non that I stopped loving cut 'due north' paste and glue sticks; I had just finally given up on a zine that, one-half a decade of riot grrrl and agitator race and form wars later, was still dominated past white, middle form kids who were either myopic, blah or hostile nigh worlds exterior of their own. The content of almost zines was and so far from my mixed-race, anti-cop-brutality-organizing, queer-daughter-of-colour life…

I left, but my honey of publishing didn't–it went into working on the last incarnation of Bulldozer/Prison News Service, a long-running Toronto-based prison justice newspaper, and on Raj Palta, a S Asian for-youth/by-youth newspaper. Neither of these would be classified as zines (which begs the important question of how zines came to be defined so whitely). (Piepzna-Samarasinha, 2004, p. 25 equally cited in Zobl, 2009, p. 3)

I curated the syllabus to eye the work of critical BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and other people of Colour) scholars, educators and artists. Zines, scholarship on zines, and multimedia resource on zine cultures and zine making were situated alongside other course texts. A zine I included on the grade syllabus was Marie Laing'southIi-Spirit: Conversations with Immature, Ii-Spirit, Trans and Queer Indigenous People in Toronto, a re-presentation of her master's thesis research (Laing, 2018). Laing, a queer Kanyen'kehá:ka person of mixed Haudenosaunee and Irish/South African settler ancestry, made the zine as a response to participants' request she brand the inquiry accessible and relevant to community members:

One friend/participant suggested I brand a zine. A zine with both online and print copies seemed like a expert manner to share these ideas with people in Toronto and elsewhere. Sharing my research back with my community is role of how I am trying to remain accountable every bit a researcher/ customs member. (Laing, 2018, p. 5)

Laing'south zine offers a counter-narrative amplifying the cognition and desires of young two-spirit, trans and queer Indigenous folkx, as well as a necessary example of relational ethics and community accountable enquiry practices.

To support the generation of content for the zines, the culminating projection of the grade, I assigned disquisitional responses that extended from the offset and final class. Toward the stop of each form, I shared a writing prompt based on the course themes and texts. For example, in response to an assigned reading from Django Paris and H. Samy Alim'south edited volume,Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Instruction and Learning for Justice in a Changing World(2017), in which they call for teaching that sustains the lifeways of communities of Color, I asked TCs to reflect on and respond to the following argument in relation to their work as future Thou-12 school teachers: "We sustain what we love." (Paris & Alim, 2017, p. 12). Paris and Alim (2017) had "remixed" a education of their mentor Gloria Ladson-Billings: "We teach what nosotros dear" (Paris & Alim, 2017, p. 12). I allocated some class time for TCs to reply to the writing prompts. To reduce anxiety and facilitate freer writing, I designated the assignmentpass orneglect. If all responses were completed by the end of the course, I would assign a "laissez passer" to the consignment. Thepassorfaildesignation seemed to encourage TCs  to write candidly nearly their unlearning and learning processes, including patterns of internalized oppression and internalized authorisation.

Some TCs all the same expressed nervousness and questioned whether they could express themselves adequately. I invited them to write words or draw images in response to the writing prompts until the thoughts and words flowed more than freely. TCs were too encouraged to write out their responses on paper.  When they needed more than time or were unable to nourish grade in person, they had the option of submitting their responses electronically. Some chose to hand write and submit photos of their responses, while others typed them out and posted them every bit private notes on our class website. While I read every response, I rarely commented. Past refraining from commenting, I challenged my own impulse tocorrect orassert detail responses and TCs' expectations that I would practise and then. To some extent, this pedagogical arroyo seemed to separate the unlearning and learning processes from academic operation and alter how ability usually operates in classrooms through assessment and evaluation.

Learning About Zines and Zine-Making with a Community-Based Education Artist

For the Spring 2019 and Autumn 2019 offerings of "Anti-Discriminatory Instruction", I knew I wanted to work with a Toronto-based teaching artist to appoint TCs in zine-making. I reached out to Jasmine Gui, a multi-disciplinary artist. Jasmine and I had been collaborating to create and actuate campus spaces with arts-based educational programming since 2015.

For the Jump 2019 iteration of the course, Jasmine's workshop was scheduled for a class in which nosotros discussed, "DisCrit Classroom Environmental: Using Praxis to Dismantle Dysfunctional Classroom Ecologies" (2018) by Subini Annamma and Deb Morrison. Annamma and Morrison (2018) theorize a DisCrit Classroom Ecology–rooted in Disquisitional Race Theory, Gift Theory and DisCrit– to disrupt dysfunctional education ecologies. I sent Jasmine the assigned reading, also as details about classroom piece of furniture arrangement and available resources (e.g., scissors, glue sticks, magazines, photos). We asked TCs to collect magazines and newspapers, and bring any arts-and-crafts materials they could spare.  A few TCs had collected free magazines, newspapers and event materials from around campus for the action.

I facilitated discussion on the assigned reading (Annamma & Morrison, 2018) and so Jasmine began her workshop by providing an overview of zines, including zines from her personal collection. She and then invited TCs to work in minor groups to create a collage in response to DisCrit Classroom Ecology. Jasmine and I had both independently created the same visual to capture Annamma and Morrison's framework for DisCrit Classroom Ecology, which integrates resistance through educational activity, curriculum and solidarity (2018).

Jasmine offered the visual as a structure for the collages. Considering the classroom furniture included long tables bundled into a horseshoe germination, Jasmine proposed using parchment paper scrolls for students to make collages in small groups. The action created space for TCs to respond to DisCrit Classroom Environmental by assembling images from magazines and newspapers. Each group seemed to have their own arroyo to the activity. 1 group planned out their collage before they committed to glue images on the parchment paper roll. In another group, each TC worked on their own collage every bit a contribution to the group's larger collage. The classroom room was filled all at once with boisterous laughter, intense discussion and quiet focus.

For the Fall 2019 iteration of the grade, I worked with some other grouping of TCs who I had taught in educational research methods.  This time nosotros scheduled Jasmine'due south workshop during a form reading and word on, "Trans(affective)mediation: feeling our way from paper to digitized zines and dorsum again" (2016) by Daniel C. Brouwer and Adela C. Licona. The article reflects on the melancholia dimensions of digitizing print zines past and for queer people, queer people of Colour and people of color. One of the TCs was a zinester, and so they brought some of their own zines to share with their peers. Nosotros ready a display table in the classroom, so that TCs could peruse the zines during course. I began the class with a brief documentary, "Zines: The Power of DIY Print" past multi-media journalist Belinda Cai (2015), followed by a discussion about the documentary and the required reading (Brouwer & Licona, 2016). Jasmine provided an overview of zines and zine-making, and shared anecdotes from her experiences facilitating zine workshops for racialized youth in Toronto.

Jasmine guided the TCs through the construction of a standard 8-page booklet zine using a single 8.five inch by xi inch sheet of paper. She used the standard booklet zine to introduce students to different styles, including sequential images and comics; collages; prose, poetry and text fragments; illustrative text hybrids; and single images. She also offered strategies to approach content, including free writing or stream of consciousness, repetition, narration and documentation. TCs used the sample zine to ideate their zines. Several TCs asked for more time in subsequent classes to work on their zines, and shared how "relaxing" the action was. This group of TCs would subsequently have the opportunity to visit a zine library in Toronto.

Exploring a Zine Library Collection with a Zine Archivist

Considering our establishment's library did not collect zines when I was developing this assignment for TCs, I reached out to a local zine library. For the Fall 2019 offering of the course, I coordinated guided explorations of the zine collection housed within the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) University Learning Zone, with the support of the Learning Zone Librarian Marta Chudolinksa.

Open to the public, the Learning Zone is an active studio-based library space, with computer and studio piece of work spaces, printers and scanners, and ever-changing OCAD student  fine art installations. In addition to the Zine Library, the Learning Zone houses a vertical garden, an aquarium, and other special collections, including Art & Pattern Annuals, Visionaire Periodical Drove and Seed Library.

The main archway of the Learning Zone opens into the Zine Library. The Zine Library is a growing collection of self-published and handmade zines donated by zinesters at OCAD University and beyond. The Zine Library was launched on November 14, 2007 past artist Alicia Nauta, while she was a student in OCAD University's print-making program. In 2009, the collection moved from the Dorothy H. Hoover Library to the then newly opened Learning Zone.

The Zine Library collects, preserves, and shares paper zines that are organized thematically. The covers of the paper zines are digitized and made attainable to the public through an open up web-based searchable database. In 2010, Marta moved the zine drove online and has connected to expand the drove and organize programming.

Marta, an interdisciplinary artist, provided a cursory historical overview of zines, an overview of the zine collection, likewise as the digitization and archiving process. Based on our phone chat and electronic mail correspondence about the form, Marta had pulled several zines focusing on form-related themes for TCs to read, touch and hold. Well-nigh of the zines were fabricated by and for queer, trans, disabled and BIPOC zinesters. Although these zines were not part of the formal course syllabus, they significantly expanded the reading list. Marta highlighted different construction and printing techniques. She guided the TCs through the construction of a standard 8-folio booklet zine using a unmarried eight.5 by 11 canvas of paper. TCs  and then had the opportunity to peruse the OCAD zine library collection, and ideate their own zines. We spent the morning at the OCAD Zine Library. Afterwards, several TCs visited the nearby Art Gallery of Ontario earlier returning to campus.

Do-Information technology-Yourself Zines past Ever Becoming Teachers

The zines made by the TCs applied the critical theories, inquiry and pedagogies they engaged in "Anti-Discriminatory Pedagogy". I focus on three types of zines TCs made using a variety of crafting techniques, and conclude with two TCs' responses to zine-making as critically reflexive praxis.

TCs made "cultural zines" (Creasap, 2015) that applied the critical theories introduced in the class to critique the media and popular civilisation they consumed. These zines explored histories of political protestation in sport and examined racism, sexism and ableism in sports. TCs critiqued the Whiteness of television shows they watched in their babyhood and youth. One TC created the teen magazine they had e'er wanted by queering the teen magazines they had consumed every bit a teenager. Another TC made a zine jubilant different sizes, shapes, and racialized bodies in response to the colonizing Euro-axial ideals of beauty pervasive in mainstream fashion and beauty magazines.

TCs made teaching and learning resources.

TCs made teaching and learning resources, including a zine featuring BIWOC contributions to Stalk (scientific discipline, technology, engineering, and mathematics); critiques of the educational system and schooling; and a foldable world map with voices of young BIPOC climate change activists from around the earth. One TC fabricated a zine containing real-globe mathematical issues challenging the Ford Government's proposed cuts to instruction. Other TCs fabricated instructional zines: how to be anti-racist, how to disrupt and dismantle rape civilization, and how to preclude teacher burnout. The latter included an ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) experience with a strip of bubble wrap to popular for self-soothing.

TCs fabricated "experiential zines" (Creasap, 2015) that applied the critical theories introduced in the course to make meaning of their lived experiences. TCs reflected on their childhoods, and included personal photos. I TC shared they had not intended to make a personal zine, only the zine medium created space for them to exercise so. TCs used zines to "right wrongs", to imagine culling approaches to conflicts with family members and peers.   TCs experimented with creative not-fiction, and turned aspects of their life stories into children's stories. TCs involved their families and friends in zine-making. One TC gathered narratives from women friends well-nigh their social realities, and layered the narratives. Another TC gathered multiple narratives of "home" from friends and family unit members, and compiled their responses and drawings of dwelling house into the zine. Several TCs described the experience of making zines as "calming" or "healing".

The zines featured a diversity of crafting techniques: layering unlike types of paper and fabric to create multi-textured pop-upward effects, likewise as interactive elements requiring the reader to lift and pull flaps, open up pockets to explore their contents, and fold and unfold pieces of paper messages on them. One TC made a "viewer" using a black piece of paper with cut-outs.  The reader could glide the viewer over the zine, achieving a blackout verse issue and receiving different letters from the zine depending on where they placed the viewer. One TC created a "discussion a day" flip agenda to address the silencing effects of academic language and the experiences of English language linguistic communication learners. Some other TC made a cross-stitched cover for their zine. The zines included hand-fabricated drawings, paintings, comic strips, and collage. Another TC painstakingly layered re-create subsequently copy to achieve faded print effects.

Both grade offerings culminated in zine fairs. TCs brought their zines to form to share with their peers, sharing their zines first in small groups. In some groups, TCs passed zines effectually, touching, reading and holding i zine  at a time. In other groups, TCs took turns reading their zines to their peers. TCs then displayed their zines around the classroom. The zine fairs took identify during the last form of an emotionally intensive course, then there was a celebratory lightness in the classroom. There was also an appreciation for one some other's zines.

For Ameline, a formally trained artist, zine-making was a source of excitement from the beginning of the grade. I nonetheless remember her approaching me later on the first form to tell me and so! Zine-making provided Ameline with a welcome alternative to the traditional academic essay or research paper, as well as a familiar and freeing medium through which to respond to disquisitional problems raised in the course. Although Ameline's contributions to our discussions were sensitive and generative, she felt she could more fully express herself through visuals. Zine-making created space for her to do so. Ameline challenged herself to create using free materials she had collected, because wanted to brand cultural production accessible to hereafter students. Zine-making was initially daunting for Jonah. Withal, he knew he wanted to apply zine-making to critically examine his lived experience. Throughout the class, Jonah had examined anti-Asian racism and patterns of internalized oppression and internalized dominance. Once Jonah decided on his focus, he experienced some ease and admission to thoughts and feelings he had tried to forget. Zine-making supported Jonah'due south healing. Furthermore, Jonah came to the realization that just as he had brought himself to the creative process, futurity students may bring themselves to their creative procedure. Jonah's appreciation for students' cultural and artistic piece of work expanded. For Ameline and Jonah, who are ever becoming teachers visioning how they will relate with future students, zine-making was a critically reflexive practice.

*All teacher candidates' names in this essay have been changed.

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Works Cited

Annamma, S., & Morrison, D. (2018). Discrit classroom ecology: Using praxis to dismantle
dysfunctional education ecologies. Pedagogy and Teacher Education, 73, 70-80.

Benade, L. (2016). Teaching and critically reflective practice in Freire. Encyclopedia of
Educational Philosophy and Theory. 1-6.

Brouwer, D. C., & Licona, A. C. (2016). Trans(melancholia)mediation: Feeling our way from newspaper to digitized zines and back over again. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 33(ane), 70-83.

Cai, B. (2015). Zines: The power of diy print (curt documentary).
https://belindacai.com/2015/05/08/zines-the-power-of-diy-print-short-documentary/

Creasap, Thou. (2015). Zine-making as feminist instruction. Feminist Teacher, 24(3), 155-168.

Duncombe, South. (1997). Notes from the underground: Zines and the politics of alternative
cultures. New York: Verso.

Freire, P. (1998). Teaching of Freedom: Ethics, Republic, and Borough Backbone. Lanham,
Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield

Laing, Yard. (2018). 2-spirit: Conversations with two-spirit, trans and queer Indigenous people in Toronto. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c4f30631137a6abb3bd8cd1/t/5c7570e36e9a7f68047be790/1551200484465/Zine+Pages+FINAL.pdf

Paris, D., & Alim, H. Southward. (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning for justice in a changing world. New York: Teachers College Printing.

Paris, D., & Winn, M.T. (2014). Humanizing enquiry: Decolonizing qualitative enquiry with youth and communities. Los Angeles: Sage.

Ontario College of Art and Design (2020). OCAD U Zine Library.  https://ocad.libguides.com/zinelibrary

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Is everyone really equal? An introduction to fundamental concepts in social justice pedagogy. New York: Teachers College Printing.

Tuck, Due east. (2009). Suspending harm: A alphabetic character to communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79(3), 409-427.

Zobl, Due east. (2009). Cultural production, transnational networking, and disquisitional reflection in feminist zines. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Club, 35(one), ane-12.

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Sameena Eidoo in an award-winning educator and teaches in the Section of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the Ontario Found for Studies in Education, Academy of Toronto.

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Source: https://tacla.ca/portfolio/vol9-eidoo/

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