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Constructing "Race" Through Talk: A Micro-ethnographic investigation of discussions of "race" among African American secondary students

This micro-ethnographic research project examines discussions of "race" among African American secondary students. More specifically, this project focuses on how "race" is constituted in school settings, and the ways in which both students and teachers construct "race" through talk. Framed by sociolinguistic ethnography, critical race theory, and narrative theory, I investigate uses of narrative as a heuristic for connecting discussions of "race" to the ways students present their experiences with everyday life. The findings from this research project demonstrates that discussions of "race" happin in classroom settings and among students in several ways. Some of these discussions are a result of curriculum choices, and teacehrs' perspectives of teaching African American students inform other types of discussions. Students engage in discussions of "race" as a means to critique or challenge the wide ranges of ways "race" is presented to them in and out of school. I conclude that "race" is constructed based on either the social interactions students have or based on how student veiw themselves in relationship to other racialized communities.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-03312008-143259
Date22 April 2008
CreatorsBrown, Ayanna Fitima
ContributorsProfessor Tina Chen, Professor Kevin Leander, Professor Alfredo Artiles, Professor Karen Campbell, Professor David Bloome
PublisherVANDERBILT
Source SetsVanderbilt University Theses
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-03312008-143259/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

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