Interpreting Blackness: A Phenomenological Case Study of African American Young Adult Literature

Abstract

This dissertation examines how Black students formulate representation of African American in African American young adult literature. It also explores the effects of race in reference to how characters are portrayed, publishing industry practices, and how African American literature is taught in the secondary classroom. In this study, I utilized qualitative research methods, specifically, phenomenology to place meaning on any occurrences cited by the participants. Data was collected using an initial interview, and a follow up interview to help clarify data collected from participants. This dissertation argues that race and gender constructs how characters are portrayed in African American young adult literature. This dissertation also argues that how participants interpret these portrayals of race and gender will depend on prior social interaction and experiences with African American literary works. Some may argue that because African American literature does display images that are associated with African American culture, there are no disparities in the works. By challenging the portrayals of Black characters in African American young adult literature, there could be a change in how this literature is written and in how African American young adult literature is viewed within the publishing industry.