Future Literacy Teachers, Picture Books, and the Discourse of Religious Difference

• In Event: Literacies, Identities, and Religious Faith Commitments and Communities in Dialogue

Abstract

Objectives
How can future literacy teachers become equipped to teach religiously pluralistic students in a global community? Teacher study of and response to children’s literature about religious minorities has been suggested as one strategy (e.g., Kiefer & Tyson, 2013). One useful text for undertaking such a project is renowned picture book memoir In My Family/En mi familia (IMF/EMF), a collection of religiously saturated narrative paintings and stories about author Garza’s (1996) childhood. This study analyzes future teachers’ responses to IMF/EMF to illuminate how social narratives about religion and Mexican-American culture may influence future teachers’ pedagogical decisions regarding religious diversity.

Theoretical Framework
Grounded in Gee’s (2008) concept of social Discourses and framed by Said’s (1978) Orientalist theory, I assume that a thriving Discourse of Euro-American superiority brandishes authority over non-European culture by “making statements about it, authorising views of it, describing it, [and/or] teaching it…” (p. 3). I mobilize the Latino Threat Narrative (LTN) (Chavez, 2008) and Anglo-American Narrative (AAN) (Santa Ana, 2002) to exemplify Said’s theory.

Research Questions
I examined how 83 predominantly white, female future teachers responded to the religious content of Garza’s memoir, asking: a) Notionally, what is the likelihood that teachers would employ children books presenting worldviews or spiritual ideas that differ from mainstream Euro-American culture? b) Would teachers discuss the religious content of IMF/EMF with children? Why or why not? and c) How do teachers’ comments about the religious content of IMF/EMF align with narratives about religion underpinning dominant Euro-American Discourses?

Method
An electronic survey, conducted in three pre-education children’s literature courses at a public university, required teachers to read IMF/EMF and write narrative responses to three prompts. Discourse analysis (informed by LTN and AAN) and thematic network analysis (Attride-Sterling, 2001) were used to code, organize, and interpret responses.

Results
Most of the teachers (76%) notionally wanted to support religious pluralism. Just as many (75%), however, reported they would censor or minimize conversations with students about the religious content of IMF/EMF for several reasons, including fear of student/parent objections. Nearly half the teachers’ comments (45%) reinforce Anglo-European superiority.

Significance
Data suggest that before teachers enter the classroom, they need opportunities to develop knowledge of unfamiliar religions and of constitutional law about church and state. Without intervention, teachers are in danger of inadvertently reinforcing harmful cultural narratives and disenfranchising students.

References

Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). Thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 1(3), 385-405.

Chavez, L. (2008). The Latino threat: Constructing immigrants, citizens, and the nation. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Garza, C.L. (1996). In My Family/En mi familia. San Francisco, CA: Children’s Book Press.

Gee, J. (2008). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses, 3rd Ed. New York: Routledge.

Kiefer, B. & Tyson, C. (2013). Charlotte Huck’s children’s literature: A brief guide, 2nd ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York, NY: Pantheon Books

Santa Ana, O. (2002). Brown tide rising: Metaphors of Latinos in Contemporary American Public Discourse. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

Author

• Denise Davila, University of Georgia - Athens