Proposing Theory for Doing Critical Content Analysis of Multicultural Children's Literature
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University of Texas at El Paso ScholarWorks@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2020-01-01 Thinking Through Children: Proposing Theory for Doing Critical Content Analysis of Multicultural Children's Literature Carmen Milagros Seda University of Texas at El Paso Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Seda, Carmen Milagros, "Thinking Through Children: Proposing Theory for Doing Critical Content Analysis of Multicultural Children's Literature" (2020). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 3035. https://scholarworks.utep.edu/open_etd/3035 This is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THINKING THROUGH CHILDREN: PROPOSING THEORY FOR DOING CRITICAL CONTENT ANALYSIS OF MULTICULTURAL CHILDREN’S LITERATURE CARMEN MILAGROS SEDA Doctoral Program in Teaching, Learning, and Culture APPROVED: Char Ullman, Ph.D., Chair Erika Mein, Ph.D. Katherine Mortimer, Ph.D. Keith Polette, Ph.D. Stephen L. Crites, Jr., Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © by Carmen Milagros Seda 2020 DEDICATION To dad. I did not stop. THINKING THROUGH CHILDREN: PROPOSING THEORY FOR DOING CRITICAL CONTENT ANALYSIS OF MULTICULTURAL CHILDREN’S LITERATURE by CARMEN MILAGROS SEDA, M.Ed., M.FA DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Teacher Education THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO May 2020 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are so many people I wish to acknowledge for their support throughout this journey. My committee supported me even when sea-spray from an ocean of knowledge filled mouth and nose and I almost drowned on my own confusion. Dr. Char Ullman, my chair, never lost faith in me, and taught me to let my vision guide my journey. Dr. Keith Polette equipped me with special tools to ensure that my vessel could navigate rough waters. Dr. Erika Mein taught me the importance of plotting a clear path and staying true to it. Dr. Katherine Mortimer helped me find my sea legs—no one warned me how slippery the deck could be. My mother, Dr. Milagros M. Seda, provisioned me with ambition and faith in the attainability of dreams. My father, Ramon, who passed before I finished, provisioned my tenacity. My patient daughter, Francis reads the night skies for opportunity. My brilliant granddaughters, Daniella, Gwendolynn, and Charlotte are the stars in the sky that shape the night into stories. And our warm-eyed friends Truffle, Moxie, Bizquits and Tess are ever in the margins. Many friends and colleagues also nurtured me through all that this journey entailed. My middle school family, Adriana, Michelle, Naomi, Laura, Yolanda, Rita, Stella, Mario and Dr. Kennedy taught me to tighten and tether the ropes. And the continued support of former colleagues, Alicia, Cris, Juanita, Cynthia, Perla and Jesus, helped me navigate troubled waters along the journey. My friends Sheryl, Lisa, Amit and Oliana, and my young friends Hëna and Thomas stayed in my heart despite the time and distance. And finally, I owe acknowledgement to the many scholars who mentored me from a distance with their insightful considerations about children, critical literacy, consciousness, and the moral underpinnings of our work. They are the lighthouses. v ABSTRACT Theoretical constructs underpinning critical content analysis (CCA) for multicultural children’s literature as a method for education as a field are currently drawn from critical literary theory. I problematize CCA methods based on claims by contributors that the methods are applicable for classroom educators, and can be applied during critical reading in classrooms with young readers. The change in audience and purpose warrants reflection on the extant theoretical underpinnings of CCA methods. Specifically, whether extant theories account for the mental life and psychoemotive needs of children and adolescents, especially as relates to agency analysis. Using a theoretical framework comprised of Childism (Young- Bruehl, 2012), imaginative education theory (Egan, 1997; Egan, Cant & Judson, 2014; Judson, 2018), and agency theory to include life course agency (Hitlin & Johnson, 2015), which I refer to as thinking through children, I analyze CCA methods and CCA studies identified for this study. Based on gaps, silences, and contradictions, I recommend archetypal analysis (Campbell, 1978; Hunter, 2008; Jung, 1969), and futures studies (Bussey, 2008; Inayatullah, 2004) to enhance analysis of subject position, character interaction, and agency to account for young readers psychoemotive needs, and to locate how power is portrayed in relation to an actor’s psychoemotive development. Finally, I construct a CCA study on an identified children's book representing a child of Mexican heritage. I employ the new theoretical tools to reflect on how the application of new theory affects analysis for power. Implications for developing CCA methods as a genre for multicultural children’s literature for education as a field are discussed. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xiv LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................xv CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 Background ......................................................................................................................................3 Historical Overview of Representation Research ...................................................................4 Issues in Cultural Authenticity................................................................................................6 Connecting Representation Research to Critical Content Analysis ........................................8 Critical Content Analysis (CCA) ...................................................................................................10 What is CCA? .......................................................................................................................11 Why Does CCA Matter? .......................................................................................................12 What Are the Limitations of CCA? ......................................................................................13 Statement of Problem .....................................................................................................................15 Significance of the Study ...............................................................................................................16 Terms and Definitions....................................................................................................................17 Delimitations and Limitations ........................................................................................................20 Delimitations and Limitations Based on My Stance as an Educator ....................................21 Delimitations and Limitations of the Design of the Study ...................................................22 Structure of the Study ....................................................................................................................23 Summary ........................................................................................................................................26 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW: CCA METHODS .......................................................28 vii Theoretical Framework: Childism, Imaginative Education Theory, and Agency Theory ............29 Childism ................................................................................................................................31 Imaginative Education (IE) Theory ......................................................................................32 Egan’s cognitive tools. .................................................................................................33 The role of wonder. ......................................................................................................34 Qualitative differences in children’s mental life. .........................................................36 The role of mythic understanding. ...............................................................................37 Agency Theory......................................................................................................................38 Tenets Drawn from Childism, IE Theory and Agency Theory ............................................41 Major Contributions in CCA of Multicultural Children’s