ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: FINDING LOVE IN A HOPELESS PLACE: BLACK GIRLS’ TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SELF-LOVE LITERACIES Autumn Adia Griffin, Doctor of Philosophy, 2020 Dissertation Directed By: Dr. Jennifer Turner Professor Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership This dissertation analyzes how nine adolescent Black girls enact their twenty-first century literacies (i.e. critical media, multimodal, and digital literacies) to develop and depict self-love. Building on bell hooks’s (2000) definition, I define self-love here as the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing, celebrating, preserving, or protecting one’s own or another’s physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual growth. Through the adoption of Black Feminist, Black Girlhood, and Black Girls’ Literacies I employed qualitative case study methods and integrated Participatory Action Research methods to answer the following questions: (1) How do adolescent Black girls articulate the ways they engage their twenty-first century literacies to develop self-love? and (2) How do adolescent Black girls use their twenty-first century literacies to depict self-love multimodally through a range of artifacts? I designed and executed weekly sessions that facilitated space for the girls to talk through and write about ideas pertaining to identity and digital media with regards to self-love for adolescent Black girls. Data from these sessions include introductory survey results, interview transcripts, partner artifacts and weekly reflections. Analysis of the data indicates that with regards to question one adolescent Black girls explained that they (1) manipulate algorithms; (2) spam the internet; and (3) use digital tools to support their future goals. Further, the girls employed their twenty-first century literacies to depict self-love multimodally by engaging such design elements as color, shape, and spatial location to design a digital homeplace where they could (1) name themselves and (2) claim space in the digital. This dissertation serves two purposes: (1) it provides pedagogical tools for educators of Black girls seeking to facilitate spaces where they can develop their identities and literacies simultaneously and (2) it details the ways contemporary Black girls engage their twenty-first century literacies to extend the literacy practices of their foremothers who used literacy to negotiate and challenge public perceptions about Black women. The findings from this study contribute not only to the field of education, but also gender studies and sociology, as they offer insight on adolescent identity development and formation. FINDING LOVE IN A HOPELESS PLACE: BLACK GIRLS’ TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SELF-LOVE LITERACIES by Autumn Adia Griffin Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2020 Advisory Committee: Professor Jennifer Turner, Advisor and Chair Professor Tara Brown Professor Kimberly Griffin, Dean’s Representative Dr. Maria Hyler (Learning Policy Institute) Professor Ebony Terrell Shockley © Copyright by Autumn A. Griffin 2020 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the girls of Black Self Love. Thank you for joining me on this journey. Thank you for being fearfully, wonderfully, and unapologetically you. And thank you for teaching me about self-love as a defiant and radical act. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the contributions of several individuals. First, I have to give praise and honor to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who taught me that above all I am to love others as I love myself. In this teaching, I find it imperative that I love myself first so that I can love others as He loves me. As such I consider this dissertation to be kingdom work and I am honored to have been able to embark on such a journey. Next I have to thank my family - mommy, daddy, Amari and Nana. Had it not been for your love, support, teaching, and coaching, I would have dropped out a long time ago. I thank you for always believing in me and always supporting even my wildest of dreams. To my sista scholars - ArCasia, Lisette, Melanie, and Jutine - thank you for your critical eyes, the thought partnership, the reviews of endless drafts, and most of all your friendship. God knew just who I would need along this journey and I’m glad to have gone it with you all. To the Digital DiVas, Ravynn, Allante, and Joy, and my Blackademia partner, Tiffany, you all have helped me to move my work from scholarship to praxis, and for that I am forever grateful. Who would have thought that Twitter would have brought together such a powerful group of women to change the way Black grad students are supported online? To all of my friends who supported me on this journey in any way. Thank you. For the phone calls. For the shoulders. For the unexpected monetary blessings when you knew I needed it most (even when I refused to say it aloud). For making me come to iii dinners and parties and for going on walks with me when I needed to clear my head. For celebrating the smallest of milestones with me to remind me that each bit counts. Thank you for it all. To my mentors of the Black Girls’ Literacies Collective, thank you for helping me find my voice and for giving my scholarship a home. Thank you for believing in the importance of my work even when I could not see it for myself. To my amazingly wonderful committee of super dope women of color scholars - y’all are the truth. Special thanks to Kim who has watched my growth and graciously mentored me throughout the past ten years. I wouldn’t be half the scholar I am today if it weren’t for you. Dr. Turner, I could not have asked for a better advisor. Thank you for all of your wisdom and the way you fiercely protected me throughout this program. But most of all, thank you for seeing me as fully human. For your understanding and your love. Lastly, thank you to the University of Maryland’s Support Program for Advancing Research and Collaboration as well as the University of Maryland’s Graduate School and the McNair Fellows Program for funding this research and making this dissertation possible. The words on this page do not do justice to the extent of my gratitude. Just know that I love each and every one of you to the moon and back. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii CHAPTER 1: INTRO 1 Purpose of the Study 2 Significance 4 The Urgency of Black Girl Self-Love 5 Racialized Discourses Pertaining to Literacy Achievement 6 A Focus on Black Boys 6 Unwelcoming Spaces of Literacy Learning 7 Disparaging Depictions of Black Girls in the Twenty-First Century 8 Adolescent Engagement in and Consumption of Digital Media 9 Black Women and Girls’ Literacy Legacies & Contemporary Practices 10 Organization of Chapters 12 CHAPTER 2: BLACK GIRLS’ LITERACIES: THEN, NOW, AND FOREVERMORE 14 Twenty-First Century Literacies 16 Black Women’s Historical Literacy Practices 18 Black Girls’ Twenty-First Century Literacies 21 Digital Tools 22 Outlets/Modes of Communication 23 Curriculum 26 (Re)presenting Self 27 Building Confidence and Competence 29 Building Kinship 31 Self-Love 34 Examples of Self-Love in the Work of Black Girls 36 Nurturing 37 Celebrating 38 Preserving 41 Protecting 43 Suggestions for Future Research 44 CHAPTER 3: HOW WE MADE IT OVER: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS 47 My Journey Towards Self-Love through Twenty-First Century Black Girl Literacies 48 V Theoretical Orientations and Grounding 55 Methodology and Research Design 60 Qualitative Case Study 60 Participatory Action Research 61 Reciprocity 63 Research Partner Criteria, Selection, and Descriptions 63 My Research Roots at Northwest Charter School 68 Context at Northwest Charter School 70 Data Collection 75 Phase One: Background Information 77 Phase Two: Focus Group Interviews 78 Phase Three: Self-Love Exploration 79 Phase Four: Digital Creation 80 Phase Five: Member Checks 80 Data Analysis Procedures 81 Question 1 Analysis 81 Question 2 Analysis 83 Limitations and Scope 85 Conclusion 87 CHAPTER 4: THAT’S NOT ME EVERYDAY: (RE)WRITING NARRATIVES OF BLACK GIRLHOOD 88 Manipulating Algorithms 89 “Spamming” the Internet 93 Using Digital Tools to Support Future Goals 97 Strategically Engaging Social Media 98 Developing Imagined Budgets 99 Digitally Depicting Dreams for the Future 102 CHAPTER 5: BLACK SELF-LOVE: A DIGITAL LOVE STORY 106 Black Self-Love: A Walk through The Website 108 Home 108 About 113 How to Love Yourself 115 Self-Love Importance 116 vi Quotes/Shoutouts 118 Taking Up Space: Multimodal Acts of Self-Love 120 Designing Digital Homeplace 120 Naming Self 123 Claiming Space 126 CHAPTER 6: BACK, BACK, FORTH, AND FORTH: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, & FUTURE RESEARCH 130 Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice 134 Implications for Research 134 Integration of Digital and Physical Spaces 134 Developing Culturally Relevant Methodologies 135 Implications for Theory 138 Building Upon Existing Theory 138 Twenty-First Century Literacies 139 Black Girls’ Self-Love 140 Implications for Policy 145 Implications for Digital Policing 146 Wellness Standards 147 Implications for Practice 148 Revisiting Black Girls’ Literacies 148 Literacy Curriculum 149 Whose Work is Academic? 150 Creating Curriculum Alongside Black Girls 151 Incorporating Technology 152 Leveraging Varied Forms of Media 153 Reimagining Education for the Twenty-First Century 155 Directions for Future Research 157 Forth and Forth: Where to Now? 160 APPENDIX A 161 APPENDIX B 163 APPENDIX C 164 APPENDIX D 167 REFERENCES 168 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRO “I wish they taught us to love ourselves.” -Ariana, 16 In the fall of 2017, I sat with six Black girls to talk about how they were interacting with computers, cell phones, and other digital tools both in and out of school.