Critical (Re)Imagination in Latinx Youth Response to Commodified Young Adult Literature

• In Event: Critical Analyses of Children's and Young Adult Literature: Uncovering Discourses of Power and Representation About Latinx Communities

Abstract

Objectives
While young adult (YA) literature was always profitable, the scale and scope of recent commercial adaptations has dramatically increased, positioning these books as only one product of many sold in a transmedia franchise (Johnson, 2013; Mackey, 2010; Sekeres, 2009). Popular YA fiction franchises are comprised of print, media, and material texts that contribute to and reflect the commercial “brand” while developing the larger story world. They are also adapted into closely interconnected “unofficial” spaces, including online fan fiction and fandom communities (Martens, 2011). Despite widespread popularity, the hyper-commodification of YA literature is also associated with pervasive erasure or misrepresentation of cultural diversity and difference in textual production and transmediation (Wee, 2010), and Latinx cultural identities are often portrayed problematically or excluded altogether. This study investigates digital responses by Latinx youth to a range of franchised YA fiction texts and considers ethical and political implications of their engagement in the literature.

Theoretical Framework
This research is grounded in a conceptual framework of critical, sociocultural perspectives of literacy (Gutiérrez, 2008; Lankshear & Knobel, 2011; Street & Kress, 2006), resource orientations toward youth culture and identity (Lewis & Del Valle, 2010; Moje & Luke, 2009), and transactional theories of reader response (Rosenblatt, 1983; Lewis, 2000, Thomas & Stornaiuolo, 2016).

Methods
This qualitative study is guided by methods derived from intersectional feminist research traditions (Cho, Crenshaw &McCall, 2013; Solorzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001) and critical discourse analysis (Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000). Research was conducted in an urban high school serving a primarily Latinx student body. Eleven ninth-grade students (ten female, one male) participated in a weekly afterschool inquiry group focused on branded YA fiction, documenting their work through a shared Tumblr blog. Additional research activities included individual interviews, focus groups, and participant-observation in students’ classes.

Data Sources
Data derived from documentation of student-created artifacts, including the group Tumblr page, fan fiction, artwork, and other digital texts. Additional data derived from transcripts of interviews, focus group and inquiry group meetings, observational fieldnotes, and questionnaire. Reflexive review and inductive coding was ongoing (Strauss & Corbin, 1991), with participant member checks though follow-up discussions and group review of coding and analysis.

Results
Participants’ digital responses contested textual hierarchies and traditional notions of reader, author, and interpretive authority. Students shared specific practices and fluid analytical strategies for reading franchised novels. Although they critiqued the cultural homogeneity across these franchises, participants characterized engagement with many texts in terms of intense emotional relationships, frequently articulating a wishful identification with characters and associated actors of brands.

Educational and Scholarly Importance
Findings demonstrate the communal agency enacted by Latinx youth as they take critical positions to reimagine storied worlds. In the current era of educational reform, this study has implications for integrating popular texts into formal classroom contexts and suggests pedagogical approaches that invite broader sociopolitical critique and action. I argue for educators to facilitate critical dialogues that consider how students approach print texts, consider these relationships in practice and account for the range of resources and purposes that inform how Latinx youth construct meaning

Author

• Nora Peterman, University of Missouri - Kansas City