Written Communication Jan 2020 OA PDF

Examining African American Girls’ Literate Intersectional Identities Through Journal Entries and Discussions About STEM

Tisha Lewis Ellison University of Georgia ; Bradley Robinson University of Georgia ; Tairan Qiu University of Georgia

Abstract

This article examines how three African American girls, ages 10 to 18, used journaling and interviews to better understand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) as part of their literate identities. Drawing on prior work about literate identities, the authors introduce the concept of literate intersectional identities, which describes how participants’ diverse histories, literacies, and identities traverse categories, communities, genres, and modes of meaning within the context of a STEAM workshop. The authors employed open and thematic coding to analyze the girls’ journal entries in an effort to answer a question: In what ways do African American girls’ journal writings and interviews about STEM reflect and influence their literate identities in a digital app coding workshop? Findings reveal how their writings about race, access, and the underrepresentation of women of color in STEM helped them make sense of their self-assurance, self-awareness, and agency as girls of color interested in STEM careers.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2020-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088319880511
Open Access
OA PDF Bronze
Topics
multimodality race and writing multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Jacobson (2024)
    Social Positioning and Learning Opportunities in One Student’s Textual Transiti…
    Written Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 18 View in citation network →

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