Date of Award

1-1-2018

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Literacy Teaching and Learning

Program

Reading

Content Description

1 online resource (ii, xv, 259 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Kelly Wissman

Committee Members

Virginia Goatley, Cheryl Dozier, Erica Barnes

Keywords

Early Childhood Education, Fairy Tales, Gender, Literacy, Social Inequities, Social Justice, Sex discrimination in literature, Gender identity in literature, Sex differences in literature, Sex role in literature, Gender identity in education, Sex role in children, Fairy tales

Subject Categories

Early Childhood Education | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Language and Literacy Education

Abstract

This dissertation explores four of my kindergartners’ understandings of gender across one academic year with an in-depth study of responses to a series of picture book read alouds including Cinderella variants. Critical literacy offered opportunities for these young students to critique inequities within social practices (Au & Raphael, 2000; Vasquez, 2014, 2017); whereas, poststructuralist feminism framed the inquiries into the locations of deeply ingrained gender identities (Blackburn, 2005, 2006; Blaise, 2005a, 2005b, 2014; Villaverde, 2008). This critical analysis of literature provided a means for the kindergartners to uncover underlying messages of power and inequity by interrogating whose voices were heard and whose voices were silenced (Freire & Macedo, 1987; Harste & Vasquez, 2011).

Download

Share

COinS