Dana Walker
Dana Walker’s scholarship examines language and literacy development in communities of practice, adolescent multimodal literacies, and Latina/o education, in- and out-of-school. Her research has focused on after school arts and youth media programs for Latino and other urban youth. Based on this work, Dr. Walker has written about school-community collaborations and the influences of Hip Hop, Chicano/a, northern Mexican, and other popular cultural forms on the learning experiences and participation of youth in alternative educational settings. She has used her understandings to push for new collaborative learning designs push the boundaries of school to incorporate community cultural resources, adolescent literacies, and expressive arts. She also theorizes and contributes to Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) combined with critical literacy. Most recently, her research has focused on the potential for development of language, literacy, voice, and empowerment through Youth Radio.
