Turning In: Exploring the Need for Intraracial Literacies

• In Event: Black Literacies: Centering BlackCrit and Listening to Black Students' Experiences

Abstract

This paper theorizes intraracial literacy, a process by which racially marginalized people probe the existence of internalized racist ideologies within their raced group, leading to their development of stronger anti-racist worldviews. It focuses on how the power, intricacies, and effects of language and representation can manifest through the linguistic practices of marginalized groups. To demonstrate this, it considers how Black college students in a course on the politics of Black hair from January to April 2022, critically explored colorism, featurism, and hair texturism. This paper demonstrates that intraracial literacy can facilitate complex and nuanced understandings of the ways in which race functions and how racism can be internalized or challenged by students and educators.

Author

• Marla R. Goins, University of Nevada - Las Vegas