Imagery and Visualization on Being African or African American
Hi,
Read the 2 articles (listed below).
1. Brooks, W. M. & McNair, J. C. (2015). “Combing” Through Representations of Black Girls’ Hair in African American Children’s Literature. Children’s Literature in Education, 46(3), 296–307. https://doi(dot)org/10.1007/s10583-014-9235-x
2. Gardner, R. P. (2017). Unforgivable Blackness: Visual Rhetoric, Reader Response, and Critical Racial Literacy. Children’s Literature in Education, 48(2), 119–133. https://doi(dot)org/10.1007/s10583-016-9291-5
The responses you write should reflect your engagement with the readings (so do not use the space to summarize what you read) as well as questions that you have about how these ideas from the readings align with the information provided in the exhibits.
Also at the end, select 1 post from your classmates that resonated with you and respond to those with 1-2 sentences as well.
No need for citation!
Case Study: Sampling Questions
Your Name
Department of ABC, University
ABC 101: Course Name
Professor (or Dr.) Firstname Lastname
Date
Response to Articles
Mostly, public discourse on issues of racism ranges from police brutality, incidences of blatant and outright racial hate, critical race theory, and other topics along that line. But a detailed foundation on how racism persists seems to only exist within academia, as highlighted by the articles. For instance, it is easy to gloss over small yet vital details on how racism and racialization persist despite the current efforts through legislation, policy, and education to end them. Gardner (2017), for instance, talks about visualization and imagery where African American children can consume a false image of self through literature. This also means that these children will grow up having normalized negative undertones (through imagery and visualization) about being African or African American.
Brooks and McNair (2015) provide an informative point of view by looking at how hair has been captured in literature by African American female authors. Their conclusion challenges the negative imagery and visualization of African hair that often forms part of racist perceptions or stereotypes. What Gardner (2017) and Brooks and McNair (2015) inform on is vital because it will only sometimes feature in the public domain or mainstream media. As such, it is easy to forget how deep and far the foundations of racism go.
It is even possible to argue that non-black children who consume stereotyped information about African hair (for instance) through imagery and representation in literature are groomed into racism without even realizing it. At the same time, African American children who consume false or stereotyped images of ‘African’ are growing up while allowing or enabling self-hate without realizing it. That is...