Counternarratives: Black Children From Refugee Backgrounds Interact With and Dialogically Respond to Taye Diggs's Chocolate Me!

• In Event: Reclaiming Educational Spaces for K–16 Black Students: Critical Race Theory as a Best Practice

Abstract

Purpose

Using counternarratives as a genre that draw upon Critical Race Theory, this study explored what happens when four Black children from refugee backgrounds (Lion, Gloria, Ayonna, and Dawit) interact with and dialogically respond to Chocolate me! (Diggs, 2011), a picturebook that illuminates issues of race and racism. In the book, three characters depicted as White/Caucasian boys chastise a Black/African American boy on the basis of his race/ethnicity and physical features.

Theoretical Framework

Counternarratives are a genre that draw upon Critical Race Theory in order to challenge presumptions made by the dominant discourse (Howard, 2008; Solórzano and Yosso, 2002). In addition to revealing intersections of oppression and the role of institutional prejudice in order to systematically disadvantage individuals who identify with non-dominant groups, such as Black children from refugee backgrounds, counternarratives are a method of telling the stories of people who are on the margins of society (Solórzano and Yosso, 2002).

Methods and Data Sources

Characterized as humanizing research in an educational setting (e.g., Author 2, 2020), this study focuses on all children within the afterschool program who interacted with and dialogically responded to Chocolate me! (Diggs, 2011) across 4 shared reading sessions, which lasted approximately 40 minutes each.

I used a multiple case study approach (Stake, 2006) to establish reader profiles focusing on four children’s dialogic responses. Such children’s interactions with literature disrupt the notion that correct answers might be produced and then evaluated by an adult (Pantaleo, 2008; Wiseman, 2011). Instead, children’s dialogic and other responses to a picturebook are informed by their ways of knowing and lived experiences, from which they draw to build and create knowledge within classrooms (Wiseman, 2011) and out-of-school contexts, such as an afterschool program (Author 2, 2021).

Findings

The findings are described in four case studies that highlight the ways in which children countered depictions of circumstances where Black people are dehumanized. I created a profile for each child to illuminate their counternarratives. In regards to issues of race and racism, Lion, Ayonna, Gloria and Dawit amplified, rather than silenced, their experiences, explanations, and voices. Lion countered offensive and racist remarks by suggesting that the Black/African American character can make new friends who “have...like you” -- and in that way, are able to welcome and accept him. Ayonna and Dawit provided a counternarrative that involved the bullied boy reacting forcefully after hearing derogatory and offensive remarks. On the other hand, Gloria proposed that the Black/African American boy rise above internalizing the derogatory and offensive remarks. Then, according to Gloria, the boy would believe he is enough.

Significance

This study highlights the ways in which four children born in countries in Africa and settled as refugees in the United States challenged dominant discourses around issues of race and racism, as well as depictions of Black people. This research adds to the field’s knowledge of the ways in which children are able to amplify their experiences, explanations, and voices.

Author

• Nermin Vehabovic, Elon University
  Presenting Author