Text, Context, and Identities in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Louisiana State University Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2004 Text, context, and identities in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana: six young women positioned as writers Patricia Meeks Smith Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Patricia Meeks, "Text, context, and identities in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana: six young women positioned as writers" (2004). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 2160. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2160 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. TEXT, CONTEXT, AND IDENTITIES IN POINTE COUPEE, LOUISIANA : SIX YOUNG WOMEN POSITIONED AS WRITERS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Curriculum and Instruction by Patricia Meeks Smith B.A., University of Tennessee, 1992 M.Ed., Converse College, 1994 Ed.S., Louisiana State University, 1999 May, 2004 © Copyright, 2003 Patricia Meeks Smith All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION For David iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank my committee and the faculty of Louisiana State University for your patience and tolerance while guiding me through the doctoral program in curriculum and instruction. Each of you has added a vital component to my dissertation and my understanding of pedagogy. Thank you, doctoral committee: Professors Claudia Eppert, John May, Petra Munro, William Pinar, and Miles Richardson. Thank you, faculty: Professors Jill Allor, Earl Cheek, and Flo Durway. I especially want to acknowledge the undying faith and support that has been given to me by my advisor and committee chair, Professor Nancy Nelson. I am very proud of the quality of work that she has held me to and extremely proud to say I studied under her at Louisiana State University. I hope to continue in the future both a professional and personal relationship with her and each of the other faculty members. Thank you, Nancy. Thank you to my colleagues, friends, and family for the love and support helped me through this project. Thank you for your support and the discourse we shared: Lane Goutheir, Keitha Pharis, Donna Porche-Frilot, Emma Schorzman, and Sally Tyler. To my husband, David, and children, McKinsey and Killian, thank you for your understanding, support, devotion, and inspiration. In the same breath, I want to also thank my parents, Linda and Dene, for rearing me to one day enjoy the experience and freedom of a professional woman. I also want to also thank my iv college and now adult friends, Karen and Linda: May we grow old together. Thank you to my family for their interest and support: Rusty and Michelle; Tutu and Granddaddy Mooneyhan, and Barbara and Everett; Tutu and Granddaddy Meeks, Patti, and Sandy; Jan and Lynn, Lee, Scott, Jason, Jenn, Sue, Jeff, and Beth. I want to thank my professional colleagues—Mike Dennis, Charmaine Fritchey, Cathy Hicks, Teresa Kerley, Candy McCown, Christy McWilliams, Tina Schwettman, and Bob Warner—who assisted and supported me in editing and my student “assistants”:—Kona, Mandy, Matt C., Matt H., Ryan, Taylor, and Valerie, and the countless other seniors at Cy-Fair High School in Houston, Texas. Most importantly, I want to thank Catholic High School and the community of New Roads for allowing me the opportunity to come into their “place.” I want to thank the principal of the school and the English teacher who allowed me to observe. I am especially grateful to the young women who shared their lives and writings with me, Aaliyah, Aimee Lynn, Bailey, Elle, Hannah, Kayla, and Kendall. I hope to continue to remain friends. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION . iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . .. iv LIST OF TABLES . ix ABSTRACT . x CHAPTER 1 POSITIONS AND PLACE . 1 The Place: Catholic High of Pointe Coupee . 2 The People: Students of Pointe Coupee . 4 My Approach . 7 My "Place" . 9 The Study. .. 10 Purposes of the Study . 12 2 IDENTITY TO IDENTITIES . 13 Identity: From Enlightenment to Modern View . 13 Current Challenges to the Modern Conception . 22 Identity in Writing: From Stable Categories to Multiplicities . 29 Development of Social Identities in Composition . 50 Conclusion . 59 3 CONTEXTUALIZED IN POINTE COUPEE . 62 Early History of the Area………. 65 The Emergence of the "Place" of New Roads . 78 Civil War and Post Reconstruction . 84 The Growth of Pointe Coupee Schools . .. 89 Current Pointe Coupee . .. 96 Conclusion . 97 4 METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY . 99 Context of the Study . 99 vi Participants . 101 Data Collection Process . 106 Organization Processes for Data Collection . 132 Data Analysis Process . 135 Trustworthiness . .. 149 Conclusion . 154 5 GENDERED POSITIONING: THE MULTIFACETED CHARACTER OF KAYLA'S, AIMEE LYNN'S, AND BAILEY'S WRITINGS . 155 Kayla: Striving for Excellence .. 157 Aimee Lynn: Seeking Distinction from Others . 176 Bailey: Taking Care of "School, Hannah, and Other Things" . 194 Summary and Conclusion . 221 6 POSITIONS ON SELF AND SOCIETY: ISSUES IN THE WRITING OF AALIYAH, ELLE, AND KENDALL . 224 Aaliyah: Seeking Inner Beauty and Peace . 224 Elle: Reconciling Conflicting Selves . 246 Kendall: Pondering Social Justice and Family . 268 Summary and Conclusion . 286 7 TEXT, IDENTITY, AND GENRE OF WRITING . 289 Genre and Writing Instruction . 290 The Genres and Identity Positions . 294 "Positioned" Within the Research . .. 312 Contributions of the Study . .. 314 Conclusion . 317 REFERENCES . 318 APPENDIX A INTERVIEW GUIDE: SAMPLE QUESTIONS . 338 B TEXT-BASED INTERVIEW GUIDE . 340 vii C FACULTY INTERVIEW GUIDE . 341 D KAYLA'S POSITIONS . 342 E AIMEE LYNN'S POSITIONS . 343 F BAILEY'S POSITIONS . 344 G AALIYAH'S POSITIONS . .. 345 H ELLE'S POSITIONS . 346 I KENDALL'S POSITIONS . 347 VITA . 348 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 School Observation Log: Overview . 109 2 Classroom Observation Log . 112 3 Interview Log . 115 4 Aaliyah's Written Documents . 127 5 Aimee Lynn's Written Documents . 128 6 Bailey's Written Documents . 129 7 Elle's Written Documents . 130 8 Kayla's Written Documents . 131 9 Kendall's Written Documents . 132 ix ABSTRACT Texts are contextualized—tied to times, tied to places, and tied to the people who live in those times and places. This dissertation is based on a study of writing and identity set at Catholic High School in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana. For their senior English class, the six young women participating in the study produced a number of pieces of writing of various types, contrasting in genre, length, content, and register. These kinds of writing represent varying discourse practices, and it was within these practices that the young women positioned themselves or were positioned by influences in their social context. The genres produced by the young women in my study were, for the most part, associated with the familiar school genre, the essay, which is common in English classes and in academic discourse. Essay types were the analytical literary essay, the problem-solution essay (or argument), the process essay, the descriptive essay, and the informative report. The genres also included creative writing, comprising stories and fables for all as well as poetry for some individuals. There were two kinds of writing explicitly addressing experiences and events in individuals' lives: personal narratives, which are a common form in school, and autobiographies, which are less common. One student wrote meditations. In addition, students kept journals, but these had few similarities to journals that people keep in the world outside of school. The inquiry revealed convergence as well as tension among various positions associated with gender, race, class, place, and religion and also showed x evidence of recurring themes and conflicts in writers’ bodies of work. Also apparent, through the analyses, was an influence from genre, writers assuming a particular position when writing in a particular genre and not in others. In addition, there was some evidence of intertextual historydirect connections of texts with prior texts a writer had written. Most interestingly, the various writings showed the students to be dealing with future “possibilities” as well as present and past “realities” in their own lives, not only in writing that is considered to be focused on the self, such as personal narrative, autobiography, and poetry, but also in writing that is not considered to be self-focused, such as literary essays. To summarize, the study shows the multiplicity and flexibility of writing identity even in bodies of work produced for school. xi CHAPTER 1 POSITIONS AND PLACE False River, which is actually a lake, . materializes as an image which one can delve into for introspective purposes. It provides a quiet place to think. It is a place to lose one’s self and to contemplate the world at large. Most importantly, it offers a haven in a hyperactive world. —Elle, “Crystal Clear” Texts arise in and because of contexts, and identities of individuals develop in and because of contexts.

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