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Emma D. V. Reimers

I am a graduate student intrigued by the way learners leverage sound media, from song to oral history, to make sense of their environments and themselves. My research seeks a nuanced understanding of digital, multimedia interaction illuminates the narrative identities that individuals and groups ascribe to places and, in turn, how those place identities inform personal identities.

THE BASICS

Year: 5th Year Ph.D. Candidate

Institution: Vanderbilt University

Department: Learning, Teaching, and Diversity

Program(s): Learning and Design (L+D)

Comparative Media Analysis and Practice (CMAP)


THE EXTRAS

Fellowships: 2020-2022 Curb Public Scholar

2019-2020 Mellon Digital Humanities Fellow

2018-2019 Vanderbilt Institute of Digital Learning Fellow

Conferences: Learning Sciences Graduate Students Conference, 2020, virtual

International Conference of the Learning Sciences 2020, virtual

Conference on Education and Social Justice 2019, Honolulu

Learning Sciences Graduate Students Conference, 2019, Chicago

PROJECTS

RESEARCH

MY RESEARCH EXAMINES THE INTERSECTION OF PLACE, SOUND, AND NARRATIVE IDENTITY IN NON-SCHOOL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS LIKE MUSEUMS + STREETS.

I am interested in leveraging critical sound media to understand how stories of people and places shape each other. Centering my work on a trio of theories - situated learning, narrative identity, and critical media - I ask questions like:

  1. How does sound impact learners’ sense-making about place?

  2. How are learners interacting with media, especially sound,  to make sense of themselves and their surroundings?

  3. How might we design digital media for learners to narrate self and place?

  4. How might people and places be co-shaped to create dignity, belonging, and equity?

I am currently working on the BLUES project with Dr. Rogers Hall, where we are partnering with a community music museum in the historic music district of North Nashville on Jefferson Street.

I’m constantly curious about the ideas of learning on the move, building institution-community research partnerships, examining learning outside of classroom settings, and considering how we can use various media in research design, analysis, and presentation.

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KEYWORDS FOR MY WORK:

  • counterstory

  • counter map

  • co-shaping

  • context

  • storytelling

  • public history

  • music

  • built environment

  • soundscape

  • placemaking

  • palimpsest

  • public space

  • identity

  • narrative

  • digital media

  • encounter narrative