Developing Critical Inner Literacy: Reading the Body, the Word, and the World Open Access

Abstract

Abstract

Developing Critical Inner Literacy: Reading the Body, the Word, and the World

By Chelsea A. Jackson

This qualitative research case study analyzes the lived stories and experiences of Black Girls and Women of Color who participated in a two week Yoga, Literature, and Art (YLA) Camp at a Women's Historically Black College (HBCU) in the southeastern region of the United States. Utilizing Critically Conscious Research Methodologies, this case study was structured to engage the following research questions:

1. What might we learn by inquiring into how Black girls' perceptions of identity intersect and contradict their lived experiences when yoga and culturally responsive literature are used for mediums of learning?

2. How might inquiring into the lived stories and experiences of Black girls and Women of Color deepen our understandings of the cultural, institutional, and social narratives that shape learning?

3. How might narrative inquiry, critical literacy, and yoga be brought together to create an embodied and liberating pedagogy that honors lived experience?

This qualitative research focuses on the work I did last summer with 13 Black teen girls and nine adult Women of Color who practiced yoga, discussed poetry by Women of Color throughout the Diaspora, and shared lived experiences through art and poetry. This work lends itself to advocates for social justice, educators, and practitioners of yoga. Moreover, this research offers culturally responsive teaching techniques for yoga teachers interested in working with marginalized youth.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 3 LABELS AND LIMITATIONS: YOGA WITH MARGINALIZED YOUTH 3 PURPOSE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS 6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 7 CRITICALLY CONSCIOUS RESEARCH 7 COUNTER-STORYTELLING AND NARRATIVE INQUIRY 8 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 12 OPPRESSION AND RADICAL HEALING 12 BLACK GIRLHOOD 16 CRITICAL LITERACY 19 CRITICAL PEDAGOGY 20 CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON YOGA AND MARGINALIZED YOUTH 22 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 28 UNDERSTANDING CRITICALLY CONSCIOUS METHODOLOGIES 28 CRITICAL RACE THEORY METHODOLOGY 28 NARRATIVE INQUIRY 30 SETTING 31 PARTICIPANTS 31 AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL PROFILES: YOGA TEACHER VOLUNTEERS 32 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES: YOUTH PARTICIPANTS 36 DATA COLLECTION 37 YOGA, LITERATURE, AND ART CAMP APPLICATIONS 37 WRITTEN ARTIFACTS 39 CIRCLE DISCUSSION GROUPS 41 INTERVIEWS 42 DATA ANALYSIS 43 DATA ANALYSIS BINDER 43 WHAT GETS CODED? 44 RESEARCHER'S PERSPECTIVE 46 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS 48 STILL I RISE 48 WRITING SAMPLE: STILL I RISE 55

JOURNAL REFLECTIONS AND COLLECTIVE DISCUSSION GROUPS: STILL I RISE 58

YOGA SESSION LED BY MAYA: STILL RISING 65 APPLICATION: WHY DO YOU WANT TO ATTEND YLA CAMP? 73 I BEND BUT I DO NOT BREAK 76 WRITING SAMPLE: EXTENDED METAPHORS 79

COLLECTIVE DISCUSSION GROUP: IMAGES AND PORTRAYAL OF BLACK WOMEN IN MEDIA 83

CHAPTER 5: CONVERSATIONS WITH MAYA THROUGH NARRATIVE INQUIRY 90 CHAPTER 6: EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS 97 THEORIZING CRITICAL INNER LITERACY 97 CRITICAL INNER LITERACY, YOGA, AND RADICAL HEALING 98 LIMITATIONS & FUTURE RESEARCH 101 REFERENCES 102 APPENDIX A: CAMP FLYER ANNOUNCEMENT 107 APPENDIX B: APPLICATIONS FOR YLA 108 APPENDIX C: DAILY SCHEDULE 110 APPENDIX D: POEMS 114 STILL I RISE BY MAYA ANGELOU 114 "HEIGHT" BY MARIAHADESSA EKERE TALLIE 115 SOME-TIMING BY ALEX ELLE 115 EGO TRIPPING BY NIKKI GIOVANNI 116 WON'T YOU CELEBRATE WITH ME BY LUCILLE CLIFTON 117 APPENDIX E: RECRUITMENT LETTERS 118 YOUTH 118 ADULT 121 APPENDIX F: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL 124 APPENDIX G: DATA ANALYSIS MATRIX 126 APPENDIX H: DATA ANALYSIS/CODES & THEMES 127 APPLICATION 127 CDG: FULL TRANSCRIPT OF SESSION LED BY AUDRE 129

CDG: EGO TRIPPI'N (IMAGES AND PORTRAYAL OF BLACK WOMEN'S BODIES) 136

FINAL REFLECTIONS: WHAT DOES YOGA MEAN TO YOU? 137 JOURNAL GUIDING QUESTIONS 138 JOURNAL ENTRY: SOURCES OF STRESS/SOCIAL TOXINS 139 POEM: STILL I RISE 140 POEMS: EXTENDED METAPHORS 144 TABLE: EXTENDED METAPHORS 147

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Educational Studies
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Education, Reading Education, Social Sciences
Keyword	storytelling narrative inquiry Restorative Justice literacy critical literacy yoga Black girls
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Downey, Charles A, Emory University Winn, Maisha T, Emory University
Committee Members	Lewis, Amanda Evelyn, Emory University

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