An Autoethnographic Study That Explores Comics and Hip-Hop Writings as an Intervention Tool to Effect Literacy and Social Emotional Development

• In Event: Revolution Along the Margins: Exploring Speculative Counter-Story Through Hip-Hop and Comic Books

Abstract

When I think of the literary works that have impacted my literacy development, I come to two conclusions: hip hop (the writings) and comic books (specifically Marvel). Growing up on the south side of Chicago, in the Robert Taylor Housing Projects, it was difficult to break away from the downtrodden environment, where I had been positioned. Although I was a talented academic, it was challenging to always have to code switch my identities. On the surface I appeared as a typical African American boy, but deep down into my conscious I knew I was greater than my social assignment, just what that was, was a mystery all to itself. To resolve my internal conflicts, I am engaged in an autoethnographic approach to resolve my internal literacy development conflicts. Drawing on CRT’s social construction of race and interest convergence, I use the writings of hip hop and the literary works of Marvel comics to explore and explain lived events and internalized processes of my experiences. For example, CRT’s social construction theory helped me understand that my physical appearance had been programmed to myself and society at large. It explains that my presence threatens the comfort of others, and thus, I am positioned in a deficit light. The positionality reduces the opportunity for any critical literacy development. However, when I recall having my first comic book read to me in 1976 (X-Men, Volume 1) I was inspired to learn to read, as the story triggered feelings in me that I had not previously been able to cognitively assign. On the other hand, CRT’s theory of interest convergence (Milner, Pearman, & McGee, 2013) facilitated my understanding on how my status as an inferior positioned person had been utilized by the public educational system to receive federal fundings and other unearned assets. When Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five spat the iconic lyrics, “Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge, I'm trying not to lose my head” it resonated with my

personal experiences, as growing up in the Robert Taylor Housing Projects was difficult with constant stresses, traumas, and fears. I remember instantly being captivated by the lyrics; and I felt the lyrics washed over my body and supported my feelings and my understandings. Here, my standards-based literacy development was interrupted, and how I perceived literacy became clearer that I needed culturally enriching literacy experiences that I could first, embrace and secondly, positively connect it to my lived experiences. As I analyzed these experiences, I am drawn to the conclusion that my initial unexplored feelings and understandings stunted my early literacy growth, as the literacy curriculum I was presented with seemingly served as a tool for encoding me into accepting the socially assigned position, while trapping my brain into a structured diffidence thinking model. However, having the experience of reading comic books and hip hop writings, I was able to activate my imagination, while stimulating my creativity, and immersing myself into the immeasurable approaches to using language to facilitate academic, emotional, and behavioral growth.

Author

• Larry C. Bryant, Metro State University