Key Scholarship in Media Literacy: David Buckingham

We live in a time of unprecedented media use, much of which can be accessed by devices that fit in our pockets. Young people, in particular, make use of media on a near-constant basis. How can this media use be better understood?

This text focuses on the scholarship and research of David Buckingham, a global leader in media literacy education and children’s and young people’s media cultures. It is not an exaggeration to state that studies and applications of media literacy education around the globe are indebted to the scholarship of Buckingham and that more nuanced understandings of how children and young people make sense of their media choices are due, in large part, to Buckingham’s work.

Key Scholarship in Media Literacy: David Buckingham focuses on the key contributions of Buckingham’s work over his prolific career, illuminating the advances he made in the field of media literacy education and understandings of young people’s media cultures. Through a close look at Buckingham’s theoretical advancements, contributions to the larger field of media literacy education, and the key strains of his research - how children and young people learn, what they already know about media and pop culture before they enter classrooms, end media content about and for youth - this text delineates Buckingham’s vast bibliography and will be an invaluable resource for anyone curious to know more about children, youth, and media literacy education.

Analysis of Buckingham’s work is drawn from his robust bibliography, exploration of scholarship he has critiqued, interpretation of contemporary social concerns through the lens of his research, and formal and informal conversations with him over the course of several years.

Allison T. Butler, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Advising in the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she teaches courses in media literacy and education and media.