“Kids like us would know it!”: Learning from children’s appropriation of transnational popular culture

Nam, Yoon Jin

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/114095 Copy

Description

Title

“Kids like us would know it!”: Learning from children’s appropriation of transnational popular culture

Author(s)

Nam, Yoon Jin

Issue Date

2021-12-03

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Dyson, Anne Haas

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Dyson, Anne Haas

Committee Member(s)

• McCarthy, Cameron
• Dixson, Adrienne D.
• Nuñez Cortez, Idalia

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

childhood, transnational popular culture, sociocultural theory, Critical Race Theory

Abstract

This dissertation studied children’s appropriation of transnational popular culture and how it figured into peer talk, and how it was mediated by the teachers at school. Through sociocultural theory, I viewed the classroom as a place where students and teachers utilized their own agencies as they co-constructed the culture of the classroom. Through Critical Race Theory (CRT), I looked at the racial microaggressions that Asian American students were experiencing at school and in their appropriations of popular culture. This study was an ethnographic case study in a fourth-grade classroom in the Midwest. Data was collected for period of five months and included a variety of data sources: audio recorded observations, field notes, informal conversations with teachers and lesson plans. Through sociocultural theory and CRT as the theoretical framework, data was analyzed initially through open coding and eventually to the finding themes. Findings revealed: (1) children’s appropriation of transnational popular cultural materials were mainly sourced from their usage of social media which permeated through peer talk at school, (2) children critically navigated through their racial identity in their appropriation of pop materials, and (3) teachers’ perspectives on popular culture as curricular resource reveals their sensitivity to district guidelines. Implications for practice and research are shared and a call for a permeable curriculum (Dyson, 1993) to acknowledge children’s appropriation of transnational popular culture as funds of knowledge (Moll et. al, 1992) is recommended.

Graduation Semester

2021-12

Type of Resource

Thesis

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/114095

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2021 Yoon Jin Nam

Owning Collections