Ethnic Studies and Youth Literature

Brings together scholars and practitioners to present an ethnic studies framework for studying and teaching youth literature.

For decades, youth literature has been reckoning with its role in systemic racism and oppression. In this landmark edited volume, Marilisa Jimenez Garcia and Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez assemble a cadre of well-known women of color scholars and practitioners to make a case for ethnic studies as a path for pursuing racial justice in the field. Ethnic studies, they argue, demands that we go beyond seeing race, ethnicity, culture, and diversity as questions of identity and difference. Instead, it shows us how marginalized positionalities create epistemologies that shape our understanding of age, craft, genre, and knowledge production. Multidisciplinary and intersectional in its approach, Ethnic Studies and Youth Literature analyzes US imperialism through the lens of youth literature and vice versa, shedding light on the roots of our current culture wars and curriculum battles.