From Black Girl Exclusion to Black Girl Empowerment: Understanding one Black girl’s digital and STEAM literacy practices as empowering, liberatory, and agentic

Abstract

In this article, we use the framework knowledgeable agents of the digital to understand the agentic experiences of one adolescent Black girl’s digital and STEAM literacy practices. After discriminatory acts deterred Star’s interest in exploring STEAM literacy practices in school, her involvement in a digital application workshop for Black girls and their fathers and a robotics club for Black girls reshaped her understanding of herself as a leader and innovator. Through qualitative data sources, including surveys, interviews, observations, photos, audio/video recordings, focus groups, vision boards, and digital app making, we explore her actions as a knowledge maker, creator, and producer. These roles (re)affirmed her interests in STEAM and her racialized and gendered identities as a Black girl. This study is important for rethinking collective educational efforts to disrupt systems that discourage and marginalize Black girls and women of varying identities in digital and STEAM literacies.

Keywords:

• Digital literacies
• STEAM
• STEM
• Black girls
• Qualitative research methods

Disclosure statement

No financial interest or benefit has arisen from the direct applications of this research.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the University of Georgia, Office of Research, Paul D. Coverdell Center for Biomedical & Health Sciences, Junior Faculty Seed Grant in STEM Program.

Notes on contributors

Tisha Lewis Ellison

Dr. Tisha Lewis Ellison is an associate professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia. Her research explores the intersections of family literacy, multimodality, and digital and STEM literacy practices among Black and Latiné families and adolescents. Dr. Lewis Ellison has been the recipient of the Divergent Award for Excellence in Literacy in a Digital Age Research, Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Academy of Education, the Early Career Achievement and J. Michael Parker awards from the Literacy Research Association, and the Promising Researcher Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Her research is advancing the field of families’ digital literacies and STEM literacies across lifespans, in homes and community settings, and in ways that inform parents, adolescents, and teachers. Her work has appeared in the following selected peer reviewed journals: Reading Research Quarterly, Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Literacy Research, Written Communication, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Urban Education, and Journal of Education.

Tairan Qiu

Tairan Qiu is a doctoral candidate in the Language and Literacy Education Department at the University of Georgia. Her research agenda is oriented around exploring the myriad literacy practices of transnational youths and centering their stories and experiences for the purpose of advocating for more opportunities in their schools, communities, and homes to sustain their entire cultural, linguistic, and literacies repertoires. Her scholarship has appeared in Written Communication, Journal of Language and Literacy Education, and The Qualitative Report. She serves as the Awards and Outreach Coach of the Fernbank LINKS high school robotics team in Atlanta, Georgia.