From Digital Storytelling to Critical Consciousness: Adapting Critical Pedagogy Through Medical Memes in a Hierarchical Context

Drawing on Freire's concept of generative words, we theorize that community-generated memes functioned as generative artifacts: culturally embedded materials that fostered both workplace reflection and critical consciousness. This approach reframes Confucian collectivist orientations as empowering resources through what we term "safe subversion," in which humor's incongruity, ambiguity, and collective ownership keep critique within culturally tolerable limits. However, translating consciousness into structural change requires strategic alliances with educators who wield hierarchical authority in service of learning, bridging trainee awareness and institutional reform.