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A RHIZOANALYSIS by TARA ALICE THE FUNCTION OF LITERACY IN THE LIFE OF A FORMER MEMBER OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY: A RHIZOANALYSIS by TARA ALICE RICHARDSON (Under the Direction of Donna E. Alvermann) ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to map the personal literacy experiences of a former member of the Black Panther Party—Afeni Shakur. Mostly, I explored the function of literacy in the life of Afeni Shakur as a way to better understand how she experienced literacy at different times in her life. In particular, the term literacy was not defined as simply reading and writing. The definitions of literacy used in this study were contingent upon the discourse in which they were constructed (Bové, 1990; Butler, 1995; Derrida, 1966/1978; Foucault, 1969/1972). However, for purposes of clarity, eight different conceptions of literacy were used in the study. The formulation of these conceptions came about as a result of the profound statements by Afeni Shakur, “Reading works for me, reading gave me dreams, reading gave me weapons” (Guy, 2004, pp. 40-41) and by reading and (re)reading works by Gilles Deleuze (1993/1997) and Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (1975/2000, 1980/1987). I also provided a brief description of literacy within six contemporary perspectives (1) Conventional Literacy; (2) Functional Literacy; (3) Cultural Literacy; (4) Critical Literacy; (5) Fugitive Literacy; and (6) Literacy as Mots d’ Ordre. A hybrid of theoretical frameworks including Poststructural Theory, Black Feminist Theory, and Literacy Theory appropriated by the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari (1980/1987) were applied. Methodological insight from the work of Deleuze and Guattari (1980/1987) guided the steps that I took to complete a rhizoanalysis. Drawing on the concept of the rhizome resulted in a variation of methods such as fragmented narrativization, interviews, and the use of archival data. This study aims to inform the growing body of literature in the field of language and literacy education. INDEX WORDS: Afeni Shakur, Black Feminist Theory, Black Panther Party, Bobby Seale, Discourse, Exteriority, Félix Guattari, Gilles Deleuze, Literacy, Poststructural Theory, Rhizoanalysis THE FUNCTION OF LITERACY IN THE LIFE OF A FORMER MEMBER OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY: A RHIZOANALYSIS by TARA ALICE RICHARDSON B.A., Notre Dame College, 1997 M.Ed., Cambridge College, 2001 M.Ed., Cleveland State University, 2001 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2008 © 2008 Tara Alice Richardson All Rights Reserved THE FUNCTION OF LITERACY IN THE LIFE OF A FORMER MEMBER OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY: A RHIZOANALYSIS by TARA ALICE RICHARDSON Major Professor: Donna E. Alvermann Committee: Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre Miranda Pollard Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the guidance of Dr. Donna E. Alvermann, who chaired my dissertation committee. I am thankful for her support and patience during the time it took to complete this study. The contributions of my committee: Dr. Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre, and Dr. Miranda Pollard is greatly appreciated. All of you helped me when I needed to fill in the blanks—even when I did not know they existed. I express my gratitude to all of you for helping me become a researcher. Next, I would like to acknowledge the support of Dr. Michelle Commeyras, and Dr. Bob Fecho who helped me through the early stages of life as a graduate student at the University of Georgia. I learned so much from our conversations and I feel thankful that each of you was always available to talk. My gratitude is also extended to Violet Johnson-Jones, Janice Fournillier, Kakali Bhattacharya, and Stergio Botzakis. All of you opened your hearts and supported me as a newly expecting mother. Finally, I would like to thank my entire family for their positive words and encouragement. I am forever grateful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................................iv LIST OF FIGURES ...........................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER 1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM............................................................................1 Statement of the Problem and Research Questions ........................................................6 Significance of the Problem............................................................................................7 Fragmented Self-Narrativization....................................................................................9 Definition of Terms.......................................................................................................26 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................................31 The Function of Literacy: Discourse in the Field .........................................................31 Six Contemporary Perspectives on Literacy.................................................................49 Rhizomatic Literacies in the African American Tradition: David Walker, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Vernon Jordan..............................................54 The Black Panther Party: A Historical (Re)presentation..............................................61 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK................................................................................72 A Hybrid of Theoretical Frameworks...........................................................................73 Theoretical Subjectifications: Theoretical Bodies With Organs...................................75 Definitional Work: Postmodern/Poststructural.............................................................80 Poststructural Theory....................................................................................................83 v Black Feminist Theory..................................................................................................89 Literacy Theory Appropriated by the Work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari within the Field of Language and Literacy Education ..........................95 4 METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................100 Afeni Shakur .................................................................................................................101 Qualitative Methodological Procedures for this Study: A Review..............................105 Using Interview in Qualitative Research .....................................................................106 Using Narratives in Qualitative Research....................................................................114 Data Collection ............................................................................................................117 Data Analysis...............................................................................................................121 Qualitative Inquiry and Irreducible Fold[s] .................................................................127 Qualitative Practices of Validity and the Novice Researcher......................................128 Researcher Ethics.........................................................................................................129 5 DATA ANALYSIS AND REPRESENTATION ........................................................135 Organizing the Chapter................................................................................................135 Investigating Sites of and within Rhizomic Topography.............................................139 Natty Theory and Knotted Data...................................................................................141 Summary......................................................................................................................173 Working the Rhizome: Plateaus, Plateaus, and more Plateaus....................................179 Summary......................................................................................................................206 6 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION...............................................................................209 The Study.....................................................................................................................209 Conclusions..................................................................................................................213 Limitations of the Study...............................................................................................217 vi Recommendations for Future Research.......................................................................218 Implications for Teacher Education.............................................................................219 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................222 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................266 A PROTOCOL FOR FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEW ONE..............................................267 B PROTOCOL FOR TELEPHONE INTERVIEW ONE ...................................................268 C PROTOCOL FOR TELEPHONE INTERVIEW TWO...................................................270 D
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