This study uses ethnographic tools to analyze one after-school Black girl book club. It addressesthe question, “How do the students construct raced and gendered identities as they engage withtexts?” While some studies highlight the need for teachers to employ culturally relevantcurricula, more studies are required to illuminate how students themselves define which texts areculturally sustaining. Drawing on Gee’s model of discourse as type of toolkit, this studyinvestigates the stories narrated by six female African American1 seventh-graders over the courseof one school year in a large Midwestern city. Using critical discourse analysis, this studyillustrates how written and oral story-telling can support students’ critical literacy development.This dissertation expands the literature on identity and literacy. It expands our knowledge aboutan oral narrative in conversational response to text, thus uncovering the potential of narrative andconversational response to text as a tool for both young adult identity development and teachereducation, especially among young women of color studying English in urban settings.
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