Deportation, Race, and Representation: A Critical Content Analysis of Latinx Families in Children’s Picturebooks

• In Event: Centering Children's Literature as a Transformative Tool for Imagining Futures in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Using Critical Race Theory and Latino/a Critical Theory, this study examined the portrayals of the deportation of Latinx children and families in 12 picturebooks. The findings revealed that the picturebooks portrayed deportation as occurring in three general phases: an arrest or detainment, detention or deportation, and an open and unclear end. The immigration status and deportation procedure were limited with occasional references to legal documents and detention facilities. Descriptions of the process of deportation often lacked historical and geographical context. While the sample picturebooks provide a starting point for critical discussion, there remains a need for more diverse and nuanced representations of the complex lived experiences of Latinx families facing deportation.

Authors

• Mariana Lizeth Gomez Becerra, University of California - Irvine

• Claudia Kouyoumdjian, California State University - Los Angeles

• Su-Jeong Wee, California State University - Los Angeles

• Yafen Lo, California State University - Los Angeles