Representing Rural: A Critical Content Analysis of Middle-Grade Novels Set in Rural Places

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: Representation and Resources in Rural Places (Table 8)

Abstract

This study interrogates realistic fiction for middle grade readers set in rural US communities to learn what messages about rural people and places are communicated therein. Specifically, we aimed to understand if and how people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people are represented. Critical literacy (Janks, 2010; Morrell, 2008) undergirds this critical content analysis (Short, 2017) of 52 novels published between 2015–2020. Two salient themes emerged as an outcome of extensive memoing, coding, and discussion of a six-book subset. First, the books illustrate that universal struggles such as poverty, grief, and health care access are exacerbated in rural contexts. Second, the books’ representations of diversity disrupts—albeit gently—familiar tropes of rural people and places as racially and culturally homogenous.

Authors

• Rachelle Kuehl, Virginia Tech
  Presenting Author

• Karen Eppley, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author