Explosive Silence in a Culture of Willful Ignorance and Dehumanization: Story as Racial Literacy

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eleven
  In Roundtable Session: Critically Analyzing Media Texts and Discourses (Table 11)

Abstract

We conducted a critical content analysis, capturing narratives of racial microaggressions, found in Instagram posts made by students of color at Morristown-Beard School, a prestigious private school in New Jersey, and compared these findings with the fictional portrayal of Justyce McAlister’s experience at a similar school in the book Dear Martin by Nic Stone. Drawing on the use of counter-storytelling to promote racial literacy, we report on themes related to being an object of racialized resources rather than an actor in such discourse. Findings reveal tension between maintaining silence or risking alienation when confronting racism. We view both sets of narrative as tools for racial literacy.

Authors

• Antonio J. Castro, University of Missouri
  Presenting Author

• Sarah D Reid, Illinois State University
  Presenting Author