Tracey’s small stories in the figured world of regular track high school

Abstract

This study investigates how Tracey, a Black 9th grade female student, constructed her academic identities and capacities for agency within the figured world of her regular track English class. Drawing on Holland and colleagues’ theory on identity and concept of figured worlds, the study uses Tracey’s small stories to demonstrate how she challenged the prevailing sociohistorical model of schooling through her multiple literacies. Through analysis of her stories, the study reveals how Tracey contested the ascribed role of a regular track student and asserted her own agency as a learner.

Keywords:

• Regular track
• Black girls in schools
• figured worlds
• small stories
• multiple literacies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Teresa Sosa

Teresa Sosa is an Associate Professor at the School of Education at Indiana University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) with a focus in literacy education. Sosa is also Director of Equity Education in the Office of Academic Affairs. Sosa has a longstanding commitment to teaching and working with Brown and Black youth in urban communities. As a Latina scholar, her research captures the collective experiences of oppression that Black and Brown youth navigate and serves as a lens that details how within these experiences, youth manifest their literacy expertise, experiential knowledge, and self-determination. Her work has recently expanded to a new line of research focusing on equitable access in higher education for underrepresented and minoritized faculty.