Black girl matters in changemaking : exploring the possibilities of Black girl literacies in school affinity spaces / Jacqueline Rae Dawson.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Dawson, Jacqueline Rae, author.

Contributor:

Thomas, Ebony E., degree supervisor.

University of Pennsylvania. Department of Reading, Writing, Literacy, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education.

Reading, Writing, Literacy--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Reading, Writing, Literacy.

Local Subjects:

Education.

Reading, Writing, Literacy--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Reading, Writing, Literacy.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (281 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 82-12A.

Place of Publication:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania ; Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2021.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Education scholarship continues to demonstrate that the relationship between identity and academic achievement has significant implications for improving the academic experiences and outcomes for Black students in K-12 schools (Howard, 2010; Wright, 2011). However, few of our school policies and practices intentionally and explicitly focus on the wellness and advancement of Black girls, whose stigmatized race-gender identities are often overlooked or conflated with the Black male or White female school experience (Neal-Jackson, 2018; Patton et al., 2016; Morris, 2007; Evans-Winters, 2011). Black feminist theorists argue that society's dismissal of Black women can reveal itself in spaces like schools, where dehumanizing curricula and pedagogies exist at the expense of Black girls, who are often silenced and/or precluded from academic and social opportunities (Lane, 2017). However, scholars also suggest that critical conversation spaces for Black girls are essential to their identity development, as well as strengthening literacy practices that help them navigate their unique positionalities within schools and society (Carter Andrews et al., 2019). It is thus necessary to consider how student-centered affinity groups operate as communities of criticality, changemaking, and care to improve both the experiences and the sociopolitical location of Black girls in secondary schools. Additionally, it is critical to consider what knowledge, understandings, and artifacts Black girls produce through their meaning making processes in these spaces to inform the work of their affinity group and the social progress of their school community as a whole. Grounded in Black feminist theories around identity formation, collectivity, and engaging acts of radical love, this study seeks to explore the literacy practices that Black girls employ in affinity spaces to foster critical communities of care and to effect change. Using ethnographic methods of qualitative inquiry, this research will trace and examine the meaning making practices that Black girls engage weekly in a student-driven affinity club space at their elite independent high school. Their practices and experiences within the context of this study will offer a critical lens for understanding the issues and the possibilities centered around creating spaces for Black girls to engage changemaking as an act of (re)storying their identities, resisting oppression, and (re)affirming their worth and brilliance throughout the school day.

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 82-12, Section: A.

Advisors: Thomas, Ebony E.; Committee members: Vivian Gadsden; Amy Stornaiuolo.

Department: Reading, Writing, Literacy.

Ed.D. University of Pennsylvania 2021.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798516084607

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.

This item is not available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.

This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.