Critical Media Literacy and Black Female Identity Construction

• In Event: Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education: Black Girls

Abstract

This paper addresses issues of knowledge production that interrogate and disrupt dominant narratives that subjugate Black females related to their identity. We contextualize our discussion through the lens of critical consciousness and critical media literacy by exploring the role of popular media in identity development/imposition for Black females. We outline issues of Black female identity politics by framing them through the description of critical media literacy as a 21st century literacy, with Black Feminist Theory as our theoretical lens. Similar discussions have remained centered in the field of Media Studies and there has been inadequate attention to these issues in the education realm, particularly as they relate to Black females and their self-concept and self-empowerment.

Authors

• Petra Alaine Robinson, Louisiana State University

• Ayana Allen-Handy, Drexel University

• Kala Burrell-Craft, Old Dominion University