Growing up black: Representation of childhood in the works of contemporary African American women writers

Abstract

This thesis argues that the dynamic terrain of contemporary Black childhood sits at the intersection of precarity, trauma, and resilience. To demonstrate the argument, the study analyzes the representation of childhood in the works of critically acclaimed African American women writers – Jesmyn Ward and Jacqueline Woodson. Their body of work illustrates child protagonists negotiating the anti-Black environment by redefining their agency. The thesis falls in the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies that problematizes the social construction of childhood. As an academic domain engaged in promoting social justice, childhood studies explores children’s embeddedness in various socio-cultural contexts. Nevertheless, existing discourses on the representation of Black childhood in literature is rather sporadic. Owing to the interdisciplinary nature of childhood studies, the overarching framework integrates methodologies of critical race theory, vulnerability studies, history and trauma studies to problematize the ongoing dehumanization of Black children in the United States of America. This research is contextualized in the broader framework of Black Lives Matter discourses, and the conceptual chapters explicate varied facets of Black childhood. In addition to the fictional works of the authors, the thesis also studies their memoirs to interpret their proclivity toward representing childhood. The thesis concludes that the children negotiate their unfavorable circumstances striving for resilience. The study contributes to childhood studies by adopting underutilized methodologies to illuminate Black childhood. Moreover, it reframes the works of Ward and Woodson in terms of their attempts in presenting the narrative gaze of children.