Endless Mourning and Resistance to Racial Trauma in Middle-Grade Fiction: Analysis of The Parker Inheritance

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 12:40 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Unraveling Challenges to Social Justice Through Youth Activism and Agency (Table 36)

Abstract

Recent book bans and prohibitions against teaching “divisive concepts” exemplify institutions’ prioritizing the perceived needs of White students. Conversely, using literature as a point of access to history concerning racism validates students’ racialized experiences and may foster healing of racial wounds. In Varian Johnson’s (2018) middle-grade novel, The Parker Inheritance, the present-day narrative is interspersed with historical scenes depicting racial violence, leading readers to compare manifestations of racism across time. Using critical content analysis employed through a framework of endless mourning (Author 2, 2019a), the authors investigated characters’ experiences with racial trauma and how they resist. Themes of colorism, racial violence, and passing from the historical narrative and racial profiling and intersectionality from the present-day narrative emerged from the analysis.

Authors

• Rachelle Kuehl, Virginia Tech

• Justin Grinage, University of Minnesota