THE REPRESENTATION OF WHITE ANTIRACISM ACTIVISM IN CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS By MARI LOUISE STAIR A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Teaching and Learning MAY 2014 © Copyright by MARI LOUISE STAIR, 2014 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by MARI LOUISE STAIR, 2014 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of MARI LOUISE STAIR find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. _________________________________________ Jane E. Kelley, Ed.D., Chair _________________________________________ Paula Groves Price, Ph.D. _________________________________________ Leslie D. Hall, Ph.D. ii THE REPRESENTATION OF WHITE ANTIRACISM ACTIVISM IN CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS Abstract by Mari Louise Stair, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2014 Chair: Jane E. Kelley This study looked at how white antiracism activism is portrayed to children through one of the most popular literacy tools, the picture book. Both written text and images in children's literature can contribute to understandings of race, especially in the context of a social justice curriculum. Stories of white allies are often silenced in society, even though they can provide valuable role models for inspiring collaborative resistance to racism. Critical Race Theory and Anti-Racist Education provided ways to view social structures, institutions, and personal responses to the awareness of social injustice. An initial investigation identified ninety-one books from a ten-year time parameter, which contained two or more representations of a white antiracism activist. Ultimately, only five books which portrayed substantial representations of a white activist as the main character were selected for deep analysis. A Critical Discourse Analysis of these books' texts located critical factors in the actions and situations of the white activists. These factors included critical incidents as well as other factors within a longer continuum of situations and experiences, which helped orient the character towards antiracism iii activism. One hundred ninety-eight text entries were reported as frequency counts and percentages within ten critical factor categories and two sub categories. Findings revealed five trends indicating which factors were most significant according to the highest frequency of occurrences within the corpus: (1) critical factors experienced in childhood, (2) critical factors involving cross-racial interactions, (3) personal experiences of injustice, (4) teaching and advocacy as a resistance strategy, and (5) civil disobedience as a resistance strategy. Conversely, two additional trends revealed by the lowest frequencies of occurrences were: (1) learning about injustice in school, and (2) learning about injustice independently. Study limitations and implications for further research are discussed. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... iii CHAPTER ONE ..............................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Purpose of Study ..................................................................................................... 2 Importance of Study ................................................................................................ 3 Statement of the Problem and Rationale ................................................................. 4 Overview of Methods ........................................................................................... 17 Definition of Terms............................................................................................... 18 Research Question ................................................................................................ 24 Scope and Delimitations of the Study ................................................................... 24 CHAPTER TWO ...........................................................................................................................26 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ...................................................................................26 Theoretical Frameworks ....................................................................................... 26 Related Research ................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER THREE .......................................................................................................................82 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .............................................................82 Introduction............................................................................................................82 v Methodological Framework.................................................................................. 83 Picture Books as Data Source............................................................................... 89 The Study.............................................................................................................. 90 CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................................101 DATA AND ANALYSIS ................................................................................................101 CHAPTER FIVE .........................................................................................................................134 DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................134 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................158 APPENDICES Appendix A .....................................................................................................................183 Appendix B .....................................................................................................................188 Appendix C ................................................................................................................... 190 Appendix D ................................................................................................................... 194 Appendix E ................................................................................................................... 195 Appendix F .................................................................................................................... 199 Appendix G .....................................................................................................................215 Appendix H .....................................................................................................................223 Appendix I .....................................................................................................................231 Appendix J .....................................................................................................................234 Appendix K .....................................................................................................................237 vi Appendix L .....................................................................................................................242 Appendix M .....................................................................................................................243 Appendix N......................................................................................................................245 vii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The examination of children’s picturebooks for representations of and discourse about white anti-racism activism and interracial collaborations, helps to understand the ways authors choose to present this topic to children. Such representations in children’s picture books, through written text and images, provide children “visible examples of these alliances and coalitions to serve as models” (Manglitz, Johnson-Bailey, & Cervero, 2005, p. 1246). Additionally it locates resources available for this specific and critical content area. Modeling white antiracist activism can help children understand what it means to be a white ally. All children, both white students and students of color can benefit from these examples (Tatum, 1994). The following study seeks to emphasize the benefit of offering these models to children through the multimodal discourse of picture books. Exploring racial issues is inherently political, as is education. Consequently, it is important to locate researchers within these contexts, and understand the potential for unintended racial bias or "epistemological racism" (Scheurich & Young, 1997). The following research was conducted by a white middle-aged middle-class woman, with unearned race privilege, who cares about working for racial equity. Ongoing processes of alliance identity development for anti-racism activism involves risks, failures, successes, reflection, commitment and recommitment. Therefore, both relevant perspectives and limited ones will naturally manifest within these actions and throughout time. Inspecting such continuums and how they are represented, is after all,