Pop Up Pedagogy: Exploring Connections between Street Art, Feminist Literacy Practices and Communities

This feminist qualitative research study is driven by two questions: (1) In what ways does feminist street art create pop ups of informal learning in public spaces, both online and offline? (2) How might street art, created by feminist street artists, be considered a feminist literacy practice that provides a point of entry for women, and those who identify as women, to participate in the shaping of community and global conversations? Data from various sources and media were analyzed: interviews with feminist street artists, social media feeds, photographs, online articles, audio interviews, documentaries and my own personal journal entries. I argue that feminist street art, as artifacts, and the actions associated with its production, can be considered a form of feminist public pedagogy that facilitates informal learning outside of traditional educational systems and also encourages women to contribute to the conversations happening in their communities, both online and in real life. Finally, the dissertation discusses how refusing the division between artifact and action supports the emergence of feminist street art as feminist literacy praxis.