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Writing for the Children of the Borderlands: Understanding the Rhetorical Practices of Parent-Authors Creating Multicultural and Multilingual Children's Literature

Velez, Milena E
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2600-1269
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=findlay1609436768901894

Abstract Details

2020, Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Writing​, University of Findlay, English.
ABSTRACT According to reports released by the U.S. Census Bureau, by the year 2042 majority of the U.S. population will be non-white, and as of 2008 almost half of the children under five claimed at least one non-white identity. Yet, the American literature market notably continues to underrepresent people of color in children’s books for all ages, leaving a gap in providing much needed mirrors and windows of identity for all children. This gap has attracted the attention of parents and guardians of multicultural children, who have taken it upon themselves to create and distribute the literature they wish they saw in bookstores. This project reviews data collected through open format interviews with three published parent-authors, and reveals the rhetorical strategies the participants utilized throughout all stages of the writing process, as well as challenges they have faced as newcomers to the writing and publishing spaces. Through the lens of feminist methodology, the project aims to answer the question of what drives three very different individuals to pursue storytelling with no prior experience, and to assume the role of an author, even when they might hesitate to claim authorship as an identity. Over the past few years, an increasing number of parent-authors have inserted themselves into the writing, producing, and publishing spaces in order to provide voices for the children existing in the land between identities, the space named La Frontera, or the Borderlands, by scholar and activist Gloria Anzaldua. Through this rhetorical act the parent-authors, like the three participants, have extended their own identities into the Borderlands, engaging in pursuit of rhetorical activism that remains largely unrecognized, but will undoubtedly continue to grow in scope and influence.
Christine Denecker, PhD (Committee Chair)
Elkie Burnside, PhD (Committee Member)
Megan Adams, PhD (Committee Member)
Christine Tulley, PhD (Advisor)
123 p.
Comparative Literature; Demographics; Early Childhood Education; Education; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Elementary Education; English As A Second Language; Individual and Family Studies; Rhetoric; Womens Studies
parent-authors; children literature; multicultural children literature; multilingual children literature; diversity and inclusion in children literature; anti-racist literature

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Velez, M. E. (2020). Writing for the Children of the Borderlands: Understanding the Rhetorical Practices of Parent-Authors Creating Multicultural and Multilingual Children's Literature [Master's thesis, University of Findlay]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=findlay1609436768901894

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Velez, Milena. Writing for the Children of the Borderlands: Understanding the Rhetorical Practices of Parent-Authors Creating Multicultural and Multilingual Children's Literature . 2020. University of Findlay, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=findlay1609436768901894.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Velez, Milena. "Writing for the Children of the Borderlands: Understanding the Rhetorical Practices of Parent-Authors Creating Multicultural and Multilingual Children's Literature ." Master's thesis, University of Findlay, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=findlay1609436768901894

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

findlay1609436768901894
435
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This open access ETD is published by University of Findlay and OhioLINK.
Release 3.2.12