Modern Iterations of Historical Legacies: Black Girls' Reading Motivations Link the Past to the Present

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Two
  In Roundtable Session: Lessons on Supporting Minoritized Learners and Teachers (Table 6)

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand Black adolescent girls’ reading motivation in relation to historical Black literacy practices. Researchers studying adolescent readers’ motivations have generally not considered these histories and Black readers’ intellectual, social, and cultural reasons for reading. Through a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study explores a group of Black girl readers’ enactments of motivation in a summer reading class and offers an initial exploration into mapping a race-reimaged construct of adolescent reading motivation. Findings show that Black girls’ reading motivations are linked to historical practices that have been transformed to fit current sociopolitical realities. Reconceptualizing reading motivation in this way disrupts hegemony in literacy research and resists perpetuating deficit narratives about Black girl readers.

Author

• Sara Ann Jones, Illinois State University
  Presenting Author