| Through a qualitative case study (Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2009), this inquiry examined how eight African American adolescent girls wrote representations of themselves and which contextual factors contributed to their writings. The girls, ages 12-17 years old, participated in a four-week summer literacy collaborative grounded in the historical literacy enactments gleaned from nineteenth century African American literary societies. Literary societies during the 1800s were organized literacy collaboratives and members gathered to think across significant issues, read and discuss literature and write across a variety of texts (Porter, 1936). Literary societies were spaces where African Americans of various ages and literacy abilities could gather around meaningful and significant texts to encourage and improve reading, writing, and speaking skills (Belt-Beyan, 2004; McHenry, 2002).;During the literacy collaborative of this study, participants read mentor texts (Calkins, 1994) and wrote representations of themselves across personal narratives, poetry, short stories, informational pieces, and letter writing. Data sources include writing artifacts, pre and post interviews from each participant, researcher memos, and observational notes. Critical sociocultural theory was used to organize and make sense of the data (Lewis, Enciso, & Moje, 2007). Using the three frames of critical sociocultural theory: identity, power and agency, the writings were organized and analyzed through open, axial, and selective coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Findings show that the girls wrote across similar platforms of African American women historically which included writing to represent self, to resist or counter ascribed representations and writing toward social change. The girls wrote multiple and complex representations which included ethnic, gender, intellectual, kinship, sexual, individual and community representations. The primary contextual factors of the literacy collaborative that contributed to their self-representations included the use of mentor text, having the freedom to write openly and without apology, and uninterrupted writing time.;These findings suggest the girls' writings served as hybrid spaces for the girls to explore, make sense of, and express different manifestations of self. Their representations were not static portrayals of self; instead, they were socially constructed and dynamic with the potential to change with developmental stages and new experiences. Additionally, nurturing a literacy collaborative grounded in history created space for girls to cultivate writing proficiency, explore representations, use language to counter and reclaim power in writing, and build intellect. This study aligns with the extant literature that supports African American adolescent girls need spaces in and outside of classrooms to read, think, and write about who they are (Baxley & Boston, 2010; Boston & Baxley, 2007; Brooks, Browne, & Hampton, 2008; Carter, 2007; Deblase, 2003; Richardson, 2002; Sutherland, 2005; Winn, 2010; Wissman, 2008). It also extends the research by offering wider views of representations from the girls' voices as well as a broadened historical lens to their reading and writing. Implications for practice are suggested that involve the use of mentor text to support writing, writing across platforms, and viewing classrooms as literacy collaboratives. This study offers a more complete vision of representations of African American adolescent girls. When educators know such knowledge, they are better equipped to create spaces in learning environments that are responsive to their lives. |
