The Critical Knowledge Production of Black Girls Through Multimodal Texts

• In Event: Disrupting Power and Dreaming Liberatory Worlds Through Multimodalities

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this review is to understand how Black adolescent girls are engaged with digital multimodal tools to assert themselves as producers of knowledge. Drawing from an analysis of literature on Black girls and digital literacy from the past decade, and taking up Black feminist thought, the authors critically examine the digital literacy practices of Black girls by asking the following research questions: What digital tools are Black girls using to engage in multimodal literacy? How do Black girls utilize these digital tools in the 21st century?

Theoretical Framework: This study is framed by Muhammad and Haddix’s (2016) Black Girl Literacy Framework (BGLF). Their framework was birthed out of their analysis of the literature on Black girls’ engagement in English education classrooms. In this literature, Black girls engaged in literacy pursuits through multiple modalities; their reading and writing was tied to their identity; and their pursuits were historically relevant, collaborative, intellectual, and political/critical. The authors also draw on Black feminist thought (Collins, 1990) to explore the connections between the intellectual traditions of Black women historically and Black girls’ literacy practices today.

Methods, Techniques, Data Sources: To collect literature for this review, the authors sought empirical studies of Black adolescent girls utilizing digital multimodal literacies. The guiding questions for this literature review included the following: What has been researched about Black girls’ and 21st-century literacies? How did Black girls assert themselves as producers of digital, multimodal texts?

Results: Black girls use digital literacies to (1) reframe narratives of negative or incomplete views of their lives, (2) engage in book discussions, (3) as tools of resistance, and (4) as curriculum. The spaces and modalities that Black girls engage include social media, blogs, videos, digital art, and forums. Social media appears to be the primary place used by researchers and Black girls to engage in digital literacy practices. This is not surprising, bearing in mind that Black teens are the largest group of social media users (Rosenstiel, Sonderman, & Loker, et al., 2015). However, the shortage of studies where digital tools are employed in the classroom is troubling, given that technology is intertwined with the lives of youth. Scholarship suggests digital media in classrooms may afford students opportunities to engage in social justice (Haddix & Sealey-Ruiz, 2012), foster critical media literacy (McArthur, 2016), and participate in safe spaces, especially for those from marginalized communities (Kynard, 2010).

Scholarly Significance: Literacy practices today are more digital and multimodal due to our increasingly technology-driven world, and younger generations are primarily leading this change. Black girls have taken on today’s literacies in unique ways that align with the intellectual traditions of Black women and girls. Black women and girls, historically, have used literacy practices to engage in the sociopolitical environment. Their literacies have been distinct given their intersectional identities and histories. Based on the findings, implications are provided for educators to understand how Black girls engage with digital texts and help guide Black girls in their journey as developing readers, thinkers and literate beings.

Authors

• LaTasha Mosley, Georgia State University

• Gholnecsar E. Muhammad, Georgia State University