Telling Their Stories: White Women Educators Teaching Multicultural Literature
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Authors
Payne, Autumn
Issue Date
2025-04-17
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
English literature , Education , Dissertations, Academic--United States , Censorship , Narrative inquiry (Research method) , Women teachers , Multiculturalism in literature
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Abstract
This paper presents the experiences of six White women who teach English in Southern states with active book bans. I conducted a series of three interviews with each participant in which I followed an interview guide focused on the principles of narrative inquiry, constructed a timeline of each participant’s life to ensure accuracy, and created life story narratives by applying narrative smoothing to interview transcripts. I coded the data using the in vivo, emotion, values, process, and concept coding methods, which led to categorizing and connecting the data to form three major themes: 1) Unique experiences and phases in life opened participants’ eyes to race and/or culture as influential, important constructs in the world and made them aware that biases, both their own and others’, are detrimental to BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ lives; 2) By understanding the need for minority students to feel represented in the classroom, these English teachers intentionally chose multicultural texts that embraced the cultures of all students; and 3) When teachers used their privilege to advocate for minority students to feel represented and appreciated through multicultural literature, they not only confronted their own fears but those of others as well. The findings of this study suggest the impact of past experiences on teachers’ curricular decisions, the significance of representation through classroom literature, and the courage necessary to teach multicultural literature in a climate of censorship.
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This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.