ABSTRACT
This chapter describes an event from a semester-long project in which youth were invited to craft superhero stories set in their community. This project was conducted in collaboration with English language arts (ELA) teachers in a Midwestern public middle school. This analysis focuses on a brief discussion that occurred after middle school youth authors referenced a problematic meme during their collaborative composing. It uses theories of transmediality and reparative reading to consider how youth in this discussion were using this meme in new, more joyful, and just ways. Addressing both harmful intentions and alternative meanings is key to critically incorporating problematic memes in ELA classrooms. Through a close analysis of a small-scale example, this chapter provides a model for how educators might hold similar conversations in their own classrooms to foster students’ critical readings and reparative reproductions of problematic memes.
