Williams defends dissertation

DeAnza Williams
DeAnza Williams

Doctoral candidate DeAnza Williams successfully defended her dissertation, "BlackBoyYALit: Seeing Black Boys in 21st Century Young Adult Literature," on November 5.

Her committee included Associate Professor Carol Tilley (chair); Assistant Professor Rachel M. Magee; Associate Professor Kate McDowell; and Karla Moller, associate professor in the College of Education.

Abstract: My dissertation investigated how African American male teens are portrayed in contemporary realistic fiction books published for young adults from 2000 to 2017. Educators and librarians value young adult literature not only for its role in developing adolescent literacy, but also for its ability to help teens to affirm their identities, observe how others deal with problems, and connect emotionally or psychologically with characters. Yet for more than two decades, African American male teens have underperformed on tests of reading proficiency. Researchers such as Feger (2006), McCullough (2008), and Tatum (2005; 2009) suggest that if African American male teens had access to more books that were culturally specific and relevant to their lives, their reading performance might be improved. Using qualitative content analysis, this study explores: (1) the characteristics of African American male teen protagonists in young adult fiction (2) the subject matter of the novels as well as their cultural relevancy and (3) who are the producers (the authors and the publishers) of contemporary realistic fiction featuring African American male teen protagonists through the lens of critical race theory. Through answering these questions, this study provides insight into the presentations of race and gender of Black male teen characters in 21st century young adult literature. 

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Kaushik defends dissertation

Doctoral candidate Smirity Kaushik successfully defended her dissertation, "Digital Trust, Safety, and Privacy in the Age of Emerging Technologies," on June 16. 

Smirity Kaushik

New book explores how AI is reshaping cultural heritage

Glen Layne-Worthey, associate director for research support services for the HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC), and J. Stephen Downie, professor and HTRC co-director, have edited a new book, Navigating Artificial Intelligence for Cultural Heritage Organisations, which was recently released by UCL Press. 

Han defends dissertation

Doctoral candidate Yingying Han successfully defended her dissertation, "Community Archives as Agency: Documenting Chinese American Experiences in the U.S.,” on May 28.

Yingying Han

Student award recipients announced

The School of Information Sciences recognized student award recipients at the iSchool Convocation on May 18. Awards are based on academic achievements as well as attributes that contribute to professional success. For more information about each award, including past recipients, visit the Student Awards page. Congratulations to this year's honorees!

Award recipients Mahir Thakkar, Delia Kerr-Dennhardt, Katie Skoufes, Audrey Bentch, and Adam Beaty.