Across Time and Place: Black Literature for Youth and the Continued Significance of Communal Literacies

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Consistent with the conference theme, which emphasizes both retrospective analysis and forward-thinking “educational possibilities,” this symposium shares investigations of Black diaspora children’s and young adult literature. We address two areas: (1) the sociopolitical influences and cultural productions of these books across distinct time periods and (2) the ways Black youth from different geographical contexts read and respond to the experiences, families, and communities depicted in the stories. Our explorations are grounded in distinctively Black theoretical frameworks, and we employ innovative methodological stances and approaches. Our symposium highlights the subversive nature of informal education and the significance of utilizing shared spaces and sustained collaboration in fostering a sense of self, intellect, affect and criticality within Black youth through reading.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Division G - Section 3: Languages, Literacies, and Representations

Chair

• Eliza G. Braden, University of South Carolina

Papers

• Divining the Future From the Past: 1960s and '70s, Black Children’s Literature for the People - Roberta P. Gardner, Kennesaw State University

• Centering Black Youth: An Extracurricular Book Club and Community-Based Theater in Collaboration - Wanda M. Brooks, Temple University; Susan Browne, Rowan University

• Ubuntu: Reading as a Collective Black Cultural Practice - Desiree W. Cueto, University of Arizona; Sybil Durand, University of Arizona

Discussant

• Jennifer Danridge Turner, University of Maryland