Popular Culture and
Early Literacy Learning
ABSTRACT Children experience a wide range of literacy practices in their
homes and communities, yet these are not generally reflected in early childhood
settings. This article reports on research findings which indicate that while
children’s home and community literacy experiences and texts are increasingly
digital and connected to popular media culture, experiences and texts in
educational settings are predominantly book-based and generally exclude
popular media culture. This practice marginalises children whose literacy
practices at home are predominantly with television, videos, computers, comics
and magazines rather than with ‘quality’ children’s books. Concerns regarding
the role of popular media culture in children’s lives are critically examined and
responses explored. Examples from research that illustrates ways of including
popular culture in early childhood settings to enhance literacy learning
opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds are also included.
Children experience a wide range of literacy practices in their homes and
communities, many of which are different to the experiences educators may
have had when they were children or that they believe are necessary for
school success. Home and community literacy experiences and texts are
increasingly digital and connected to popular media culture, yet experiences
and texts in educational settings are predominantly paper-based and generally
exclude popular media culture. This practice marginalises many children,
particularly those from diverse cultural, social and linguistic backgrounds
whose experiences may be with television, computers and popular magazines
rather than with ‘quality’ children’s books. Including popular culture texts in
early childhood settings is a way of valuing and building on all children’s
‘funds of knowledge’ (Moll et al, 1992) and assisting children to reach their
literacy learning potential.
The Role of Popular Media Culture in Children’s Literacy Learning
Children learn about literacy as they engage in everyday practices in a range of
social and cultural contexts within their families and communities (Luke,
1993). In countries such as Australia, screen technologies – for example,
television, video and computer – play an increasing role in the social practices
of communication, information and entertainment. The interactive and
multimodal nature of CD-ROMs, DVDs, Internet sites and computer software,
as well as their links to popular culture, makes these technologies particularly
attractive to children. In addition, the cross-media promotion and
merchandising of programmes and products linked to licensed characters such
as Winnie the Pooh extend children’s favourite programme into every aspect of
their daily lives (Seiter, 1999; Buckingham, 2000a). Most children find the
narratives of popular culture pleasurable, identify with the characters and,
through discussions of characters and plots with peers, establish a sense of
community and shared understandings. Thus, popular media culture is part of
everyday lived experiences and ‘funds of knowledge’ for most Australian
children and plays a prominent role in their literacy learning (Jones Diaz et al,
2002).
Methodology
This article draws on research conducted in 1998 and 1999 for the Early
Literacy and Social Justice Project, in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, as
well as research on popular culture and literacy learning conducted by me in
2001.
Phase 1 of the Early Literacy and Social Justice Project involved the
mapping of existing literacy practices in 79 early childhood settings (long day
care centres and pre-schools) situated in low socio-economic areas and is
reported in full in Makin et al (1999). The main data collection methods were
observations of the learning environment in each setting, interviews with
educators and focus group discussions with parents. Observations of each
setting were made using a modified version of the Early Childhood
Environment Rating Scale (Harms et al, 1998), with a literacy subscale
developed by the research team. Structured interviews were conducted with
two educators from each setting – involving 158 teachers and assistants
working with the children in the year before school. Focus group discussions
were held with 60 parents, including a focus group with Aboriginal parents
facilitated by a member of the local Aboriginal community and a group
conducted in the home language of another group of parents. Ratings were
analysed using Excel and interview and focus group data were analysed using
NUD*IST.
Phase 2 of the Early Literacy and Social Justice Project involved
professional development in 15 of the original 79 early childhood settings over
a period of 5 months and is reported in McNaught et al (2000). Data collection
methods included diaries, samples of work and photographs over the period of
professional development. At the conclusion of the project, interviews were
conducted with 32 parents, 28 educators and 11 managers (for example,
principals or directors) regarding their involvement in the project and any
changes in practices that took place. Video material was collected from five of
the settings involved in this phase and some of this footage included in the
professional development resource, Literacies, Communities and Under 5s (Jones
Diaz et al, 2001).
This article also draws on preliminary findings of research into the role of
popular culture in literacy learning conducted by me in 2001. To date, three
early childhood settings in areas of high sociocultural diversity in Sydney have
been involved. Main data collection methods include semi-structured
interviews with parents and educators. Data collection methods were
responsive to individual contexts. In some settings, participants felt more
comfortable discussing issues as a group, and in one setting, parents selected to
complete a questionnaire rather than be interviewed. Data have been collected
from 12 parents and 12 educators, including two bilingual parents, four
Aboriginal parents, two fathers, two male educators, two bilingual educators
and two Aboriginal educators. Educators interviewed had a range of
qualifications and experience.
Literacy Practices in Children’s Homes and Communities
Interviews with parents undertaken for Phase 1 of the Early Literacy and
Social Justice Project highlighted the significant role of technology – including
television, videos and computer games – in literacy learning, with 71% of
parents including technology in their discussion of children’s literacy
experiences at home (Makin et al, 1999). Parents from bilingual backgrounds
particularly noted the role of technology for children learning English as a
second language.
Analysis of data from parents interviewed in 2001 further suggests that
popular culture plays a significant role in children’s literacy learning. Parents
commented that children were able to recognise print and logos viewed on
television, could repeat dialogue and retell the narratives of familiar videos,
and knew the words and tunes to songs and advertising slogans. Two
examples from the parent interviews are included to illustrate the role of
popular media in children’s everyday literacy experiences.
Libby, aged 4, is an only child from an English-speaking family, with both
parents employed in professions. Libby’s father stated that popular culture
played a prominent role in his daughter’s life. Libby watches either children’s
television programmes (such as Bananas in Pyjamas, Spot, Pingu and Kipper) or a
video (such as Hi-5 or Toy Story) for about an hour every morning after
breakfast as well as watching some programmes at the weekend with her
family. She selects a new video once a week from the local video store (usually
a Rugrats, Disney or Winnie the Pooh film), has a collection of her own popular
culture videos and magazines and frequently visits websites such as
Nickelodeon. Libby’s father also indicated that she was exposed to popular
culture through advertising on bus shelters and billboards, via the Internet and
connected to fast food outlets. The intertextuality of this media world provides
Libby with a rich pool of data from which to create meanings through play,
narratives and drawing. Her father reported that Libby ‘often plays out scenes
and draws characters from Toy Story and Rugrats’ and that she sings theme
songs from television shows. Although popular media culture played a
prominent role in Libby’s experiences, her father also noted that Libby had
experiences with a broad range of texts available at home and borrowed from
the library. In addition, both parents are beginning to encourage Libby to
think critically about the marketing of popular media texts.
Daniel, aged 4, is from an Aboriginal background. He has two younger
siblings as well as a number of older and younger cousins whom he visits
frequently. His mother works at home caring for the children and his father is
employed in a trade. Popular culture plays a prominent role in Daniel’s
everyday experiences and identity construction. When asked about her
children’s literacy experiences at home, Daniel’s mother indicated that these
mostly involved television and video viewing. She stated that when Daniel
was 2 and 3 years of age, he used to watch the Wiggles, Hi-5 and
Bananas inPyjamas
on television and video, knew the words to all the songs and couldrepeat the dialogue from familiar videos. Now, at age 4, he prefers Pokémon,
Power Rangers and Popeye and also often watches adult programmes and videos
including Serena the Witch and Men in Black independently and with his family.
Daniel’s mother indicated that she was not usually able to sit down and talk
with her children about what they were watching and so Daniel did not
engage in many critical literacy experiences in his home. Data from interviews
with his mother, as well as from interviews with educators at the early
childhood setting he attends, indicate that Daniel’s dramatic play, drawings
and storytelling predominantly draw on characters and narratives connected
to popular multimedia texts such as Power Rangers. These texts provide Daniel
and his peers with a shared frame of reference from which to innovate, and
transform texts and characters.
All of the parents and educators interviewed by me in 2001 highlighted
the way in which children were passionate about media culture. Children from
all cultural, language and socio-economic backgrounds seem to be interested
in popular media texts. However, these texts are especially significant for
many children from diverse backgrounds, who do not always have access to
‘quality’ texts and English language book-based literacy experiences, as noted
by Giroux (1994), Seiter (1993, 1999) and Marsh (1999, 2000). For some
children, popular media texts are all that is available and it is through
interactions with these texts that literacy learning is occurring in their homes
and communities.
Literacy Practices in Early Childhood Settings
Despite the breadth and depth of literacy experiences and texts and the
multiplicity of discourses in children’s homes and communities, many
Australian prior-to-school educational settings and schools reflect a narrow
range of experiences, texts and discourses (Breen et al, 1994; Makin et al, 1999).
A key finding of Phase 1 of the Early Literacy and Social Justice Project was
that there were generally few opportunities for children to engage in literacy
experiences that linked to their home and community practices. While many
of the children came from bilingual backgrounds, 77% of the early childhood
settings included only minimal provision for diverse oral and written
languages and 29% of settings had no provision for the use of computers or
technology (Makin et al, 1999). Even where televisions and computers were
present in the setting, the role of technology in literacy development was not
acknowledged by staff or observed in practice. In addition, everyday literacy
artefacts such as advertising flyers, children’s popular magazines, comics and
other popular culture texts were not included in the reading or literacy play
materials available for children.
Traditionally, literacy has been viewed as reading and writing, and
experiences with books as the pathway to literacy learning. It is not surprising,
then that many staff interviewed for Phase 1 of the Early Literacy and Social
Justice Project regarded children’s multiple literacy experiences with
technology and popular culture, and in languages other than English, as a
‘problem’. When asked what they knew about children’s home and
community experiences with literacy, 30% of educators responded that they
did not know and a further 20% held deficit assumptions about children’s
home experiences (Makin et al, 1999). This is reflected in statements such as
‘not a lot happens at home’ and ‘when they come to us [at 4 years of age] they
are 4 years behind’ (Arthur et al, 2001). Experiences in the use of languages
other than English and involving the literacies of technology and popular
culture were generally ignored and devalued. One educator commented that:
Mum makes a big deal and ‘oh, he can write his name’, but it turns out to be on
the computer. When he comes in to do it here he has no idea. He might write an
M. (Arthur et al, 2001)
A number of staff expressed the view that children’s home experiences were
limited and that the role of the early childhood setting and school was to
compensate for the deficiencies of the home environment. Educators made
comments such as:
Maybe a handful of the kids in my class ... might be read to every night or not at
all. And usually what they get here is all that they get. (Makin et al, 1999, p. 98)
Not much is going on in the home, usually just watching TV – this [early
childhood setting] is the place for literacy development. It’s here or nowhere.
(Makin et al, 1999, p. 65)
But a lot of them they watch TV and that’s only where they get their words from
and like their reading from commercials and McDonald’s, they all know the
McDonald’s sign. (Makin et al, 1999, p. 102)
As these quotations indicate, ‘school literacies’ generally valorise the literacy
practices of the mainstream – that is, book-based literacy practices in English –
so that these are viewed as the norm. Educational settings tend to privilege
experiences with ‘quality’ children’s literature over experiences with
television, video and computer texts (Kavanagh, 1997; Makin et al, 1999).
‘Real-life’ experiences such as visiting the beach or the circus are valued over
vicarious experiences such as watching a cartoon about the circus (Kavanagh,
1997), visiting an Internet site or playing a computer game about the beach.
Furthermore, ways of interacting that are similar to those of the school – for
example, the use of prediction and comparison when reading books – are
valorised while diverse interaction styles are viewed as deficient.
The effect of these attitudes and practices is to marginalise children such
as Daniel. They quickly learn that their funds of knowledge are not valued by
the setting and consequently do not talk to educators about their passions or
ideas, nor do they demonstrate their understandings of literacy. When
educators do not provide all children with opportunities to display and extend
their funds of knowledge in the educational setting, many children’s literacy
learning potential is not being met.
Rather than there being a unitary pathway via books, there are multiple
pathways to literacy, with popular culture being a path taken by many
children. Children who may not be interested in reading school texts are often
highly engaged and avid readers and writers when the texts are connected to
popular culture and include comics, magazines and advertising texts (Dyson,
1993, 1998; Hilton, 1996; Marsh, 2000). Experiences with popular media
culture are a strength that many children bring to early childhood settings that
can be built on to extend literacy learning. Yet, many educators are reluctant
to include popular culture in educational settings (Makin et al, 1999;
McNaught et al, 2000). It is important to consider why there is so much
resistance to the inclusion of popular culture, and to differentiate facts and
myths regarding children’s popular culture use.
Issues and Responses to Use of
Popular Media Culture in Early Childhood Settings
Findings from interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires
conducted by the author with 12 parents and 12 educators in 2001, along with
readings in the area of media studies, highlight some of the issues surrounding
children’s popular culture interests. While the educators and parents
interviewed generally acknowledged the role of popular culture in children’s
lives and its positive role in literacy learning, they also raised concerns about
its negative influences. These concerns included the promotion of violence
and consumerism, the reinforcement of stereotypes and the limiting of
creativity. The main concerns regarding the role of popular media culture in
children’s lives and responses to those concerns from contemporary
perspectives on early childhood are outlined below.
Traditionally, there has been a high culture/low culture dichotomy
(Luke, 1997), with low culture perceived to be inferior and often harmful.
Critics of popular culture perceive it to be ‘low-brow trash’ that ‘dumbs down’
society and encourages materialism, violence and moral depravity (Kavanagh,
1997; Buckingham, 2000a). Popular culture viewed through this lens is ‘bad’ –
violent, commercial, anti-social, racist, sexist – and therefore seen as
something that is not appropriate for young children.
Critics of popular culture also reinforce binary oppositions of
education/entertainment, work/ play and us/them. Popular culture is viewed
as ‘merely’ entertainment. However, Papert (1993, in Lankshear, 1997) rejects
the view that children like electronic games because they are easy and dislike
homework because it is hard and argues that the reverse is more often true.
Many electronic games are often highly complex and combine education and
entertainment.
Popular culture is also viewed as something that ‘others’ enjoy – never
‘us’ (Buckingham, 2000a). ‘We’ prefer educational toys and programmes – not
those associated with popular culture – thus reinforcing the high culture/low
culture dichotomy. Debates about ‘quality’ children’s literature and television
reflect middle-class adults’ views (Seiter, 1993; Kavanagh, 1997; Buckingham,
2000a). It is assumed that quality children’s television ‘can only possibly be
located in certain genres or certain types of programming’ (Buckingham,
2000a, p. 163); that American programmes, cartoons, game shows and soaps
are ‘bad’ and that documentaries, publicly funded children’s television, live
drama and adaptations of ‘quality’ children’s literature are ‘good’. Middle-class
children are perceived to watch small amounts of ‘quality’ television and to
use computers for educational purposes – often with adult mediation – while
working-class children are perceived to have unlimited and unsupervised
access to television programmes, videos’ and computer games of no
educational value.
These stereotypes may be reinforced by some family literacy practices.
Research by Buckingham (2000a) suggests that middle-class families are more
likely to engage in critical discourse about popular culture than working-class
families. He suggests that children from middle-class families thus see critical
discourse as a valuable form of cultural capital and a means of social
distinction. Kavanagh (1997) also notes that middle-class students are more
likely to draw on discourses of class and align themselves with the teacher’s
views of popular television programmes.
The effects of media violence on young children’s levels of aggressive
behaviour were raised as issues by parents and educators. Concerns about
violence tend to be fuelled by the popular press, where crime is linked with
media violence and where it is suggested that children imitate screen violence.
However, this simplifies the issues and assumes that children are not able to
distinguish between reality and the violence constructed by the media. Tobin
(2000) suggests that while children may imitate violence, they do this in a
stylised way that ensures that others are not hurt. While the violence in many
cartoons and video games is a cause for concern, violence is also inherent in
many traditional narratives such as fairy tales as well as in many sports and
interactions within families and between nations. Educators can utilise a range
of texts, including media texts, to discuss issues of power, violence and gender
with children and encourage the consideration of alternate responses, plots
and roles.
Fears about the commercialisation of the curriculum and the promotion
of a consumer culture were also put forward by parents and educators. It is
true that children are the focus of a great deal of attention from marketing and
there are an increasing number of commercial television programmes and
Internet sites aimed at children. In addition, the distinctions between
education, entertainment and commercial activities are often blurred
(Buckingham, 2000b). However, children can learn to critique the commercial
nature of the media, to distinguish programmes from advertisements and to be
aware of devices used by advertisers to sell products (Buckingham, 2000a).
Limited representations of peoples of diverse backgrounds and family
structures along with gendered roles were also raised as issues by parents and
educators. Mass media, and television in particular, has a large influence on
our lives as a ‘social text, cultural icon and social practice’ (Luke, 1997, p. 20)
and does present highly gendered and racialised constructions. However,
Kavanagh (1997) suggests that everyday interactions as well as ‘quality’
children’s literature also construct stereotypical images and narratives and
provide few positive role models for children of diverse racial and ethnic
backgrounds and from non-traditional families. In interviews, the limited role
models and the racist portrayal of people of colour by the media was
particularly raised as a concern by parents of children from diverse cultural
backgrounds. As Misson (1998b) suggests, many popular texts reproduce
disadvantage and marginalise minority groups by privileging oppressive
readings. Yet, through a critical literacy focus, children can engage in critical
analysis and work to subvert many of the racist and sexist dimensions of media
characters (Giroux, 1997; Misson, 1998b).
Literacy needs to be understood in terms of power relations and the way
that ‘language operates to reproduce and maintain institutions and power
bases as well as the ways that discourses and ideologies operate through
language’ (Baynham, 1995, p. 2). Popular culture texts, along with a range of
other texts, can be critically analysed by children and educators to examine
ways in which dominant world views are taken for granted and texts are
constructed to serve particular purposes. Texts can then be reconstructed to
represent alternate ideologies and to accommodate multiple voices.
Another area of concern for many educators and parents is that popular
culture texts restrict children’s creativity, as children are perceived to take on
popular culture roles and act out the roles and dialogue that they are given.
While knowing that basic elements of popular culture characters and plot can
limit children’s play to the use of prescribed characters, stereotypes of ‘good’
and ‘bad’, and set plots, it can also promote creativity. A shared frame of
reference has been found to enable children to be creative, add contextual
details and elaborate on plots (Sefton-Green & Parker, 2000). Rather than
merely playing out given narratives, children innovate, improvise, subvert and
reinterpret characters and plots so that they make them into what they want
them to be and make them their own (Seiter, 1993, 1999; Hilton, 1996).
Children are able to construct their own identities – ones that may challenge
dominant discourses. For example, a child from an Aboriginal background
may decide that Cinderella has black skin and hair and brown eyes, a group of
children may decide that the ‘big bad wolf’ is really friendly, and another child
may decide that Barbie is a Punk.
Contemporary views of children argue that children are powerful, astute
and in control of their learning as they actively engage in the co-construction
of knowledge, culture and identity (James et al, 1993; Dahlberg et al, 1999).
Rather than being passive recipients of popular culture texts and cultural
dupes, it is argued that children are active agents as they process and construct
meanings. From this perspective, children are regarded as able to critically
evaluate programmes and products (Seiter, 1993) and to critique and subvert
texts. However, Malaguzzi (1993) cautions that we need to be careful not to
create a new binary of the competent/incompetent child. The ability to
critique and to produce counter-hegemonic texts does not come automatically
to children (Buckingham, 2000a). It is essential that early childhood educators
model media and critical literacy and scaffold children’s critical evaluation and
reconstruction of texts.
Popular culture texts have an important place in early childhood settings
as they provide links to children’s home and community experiences and
opportunities to examine ways in which texts are constructed to present
particular ideologies (Comber & O’Brien, 2000). As Sefton-Green & Parker
(2000, p. 52) note, ‘if moving image texts were included within the context of
literacy and literacy teaching, schools would legitimise children’s prior
experiences and perhaps foster a deeper critical reflection on both print and
visual products’.
Including Popular Culture in Early Childhood Programs
When popular culture artefacts linked to children’s interests are included in
early childhood programmes, children integrate a range of literacy practices in
their play. For example, they follow instructions for games, read magazines
and comics, consult posters and diagrams, read catalogues and ‘junk mail’,
make signs and create texts connected to their popular culture interests (Marsh
1999, 2000; Seiter, 1999; McNaught et al, 2000).
Research undertaken in a British nursery school (Marsh, 2000) highlights
the way that literacy experiences based on popular culture tap into children’s
lives. Marsh particularly noted that children who had not previously taken part
in literacy experiences, and who did not generally engage in many verbal
interactions with educators – mostly working-class boys from bilingual
backgrounds – were very enthusiastic when the literacy materials linked to the
Teletubbies.
Interviews from Phase 2 of the Early Literacy and Social Justice Project
indicated that many educators involved in the professional development phase
of the project broadened their understandings of literacy and strengthened the
links between home and the early childhood setting. While literacy was
extended to everyday texts such as advertising flyers, newspapers and
magazines, the inclusion of popular culture in early childhood programmes
was met with resistance in many instances (McNaught et al, 2000). However,
in some settings, educators planned a number of experiences to incorporate
children’s popular culture interests into the programme and extend these to
literacy learning.
One of the early childhood centres involved in Phase 2 of the Early
Literacy and Social Justice Project included strong links to children’s home
experiences through the provision of bilingual resources and popular culture
artefacts and texts. This centre was situated in a low socio-economic area of
Sydney where the majority of families spoke a language other than English at
home. Children were encouraged to talk about their popular culture interests
and bring their favourite books and videos to the centre. For many children in
the 3-5 year-old group, the predominant interest was Pokémon. Experiences
such as the addition of plastic Pokémon figures to the play dough table,
classification and matching games with Pokémon cards and the incorporation of
popular culture texts in the reading area were included in the programme to
extend this interest. The children responded enthusiastically to these
experiences and spent lengthy periods interacting with the resources and
sharing ideas and experiences with each other (Jones Diaz et al, 2001).
The addition of plastic Pokémon figures to the play dough resulted in
much animated dramatic play and conversation as the children acted out and
innovated on known narratives, dialogue and moves in relation to the
different characters. Three boys who were all from bilingual backgrounds built
vehicles such as cars and aeroplanes for their Pokémon characters and engaged
in conversations in English about what they were doing. The following
transcript includes an excerpt from this play.
Carlos: I’ve got him [Pikachu] thank you.
Johnny: Pika, Pika, Pikachu.
Pika, Pika, Pikachu.
Anthony: How he go, Pikachu?
Johnny: Rrrrr.
Anthony: Pikachu.
I use magic attack.
Pikachu, Pikachu.
Ppp! Ppp! Attack.
Carlos: Hey! My friend’s pushing this (car made of play dough with Blastoise
inside) and he can’t push it all the way.
[Johnny flies plane with Bulbasaur inside down to attack car]
Stop that you Babasaurs [Bulbasaurs]!
Anthony: Babasaur, Babasaur, Babasaur.
Johnny: Babasaur’s not.
Carlos: It’s time for dinner.
He [Blastoise] says its time for cake time.
Anthony: Don’t break his [Carlos’s] car.
Hey! Don’t break his car.
[Johnny stops attack]
Johnny: Yum, yum.
Cake that Blastoise made.
[The children all pretend to eat cake.]
(unpublished data, McNaught et al, 2000)
The shared interest in Pokémon provided this group of boys with opportunities
to display their funds of knowledge gained from the media world as they
created their own dialogue and narrative.
Recognition of popular culture in early childhood settings does not mean
colonising children’s worlds: rather, providing opportunities for children to
access the knowledge gleaned from popular culture at home and in their
communities. It also does not mean that educators abandon their
responsibility to introduce children to a range of children’s literature, but that
popular media texts are used to help unlock further texts and widen children’s
choices and possibilities. Nor does it mean that popular culture texts are
accepted without criticism. The role of early childhood educators is to support
children to analyse and critique a range of texts, including popular media texts.
This is particularly important for children who may not be exposed to critical
literacy in their homes and communities.
Rather than dismissing popular culture as commercially driven and
ideologically unsound, it can provide opportunities for critical analysis.
Popular texts can be used to extend children’s pleasure and at the same time
assist them to examine the ways that texts are constructed.
Educators can work with children to challenge and transform the
messages of popular media and to critique the commercial nature of many
popular texts.
Conclusion
The inclusion in early childhood settings of everyday texts, including popular
media and digital texts, and texts in languages other than English, enables
children to make connections to where they come from, who they are and
what they think (Giroux, 1994). It is a means of celebrating diversity and
building on children’s strengths. As Reid (1998, p. 246) argues:
the challenge of working with, rather than against, difference in classroom literacy
teaching and learning may provide us with a means of finding and acknowledging
the potential benefits of social diversity in language and literacy rather than
simply focussing on ‘overcoming’ diversity and difference.
Correspondence
Leonie Arthur, School of Education and Early Childhood Studies, Building 4,
Bankstown Campus, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith
South DC, New South Wales 1797, Australia (l.arthur@uws.edu.au).
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