ABSTRACT

This section provides an understanding of the affordances of mapping, surveying, photovoice and neighborhood walking for the Culturally Sustaining Systemic Functional Linguistics (CS SFL) programs. It explores how and why play, movement, spoken word and performance are integral components of the CS SFL work alongside youth and adults who come with imaginative reconceptualizations of what collaborative play means and how it functions. CS SFL work with youth privileges community relationship building above all else. A play frame is introduced through the use of improvisation and theater games where performers and spectators interact in spontaneous ways that push them out of the usual institutional frames of references. Theater is utilized to support a dismantling of institutional walls, even if this desire is somewhat quixotic. Hip hop has a special place in the lives and artistic performances of the youth participants as its history, collaborative practices and improvisation most often convey highly critical and creative challenges to dominant mainstream norms.