“Making a Way”: Young Women Using Literacy and Language to Resist the Politics of Silencing

Abstract

Urban public schools are often contexts in which students are beset with silencing, surveillance, and low expectations. These conditions present distinct and critical challenges to young women. This article explores the language and literacy practices that emerged in an in‐school elective writing and photography course designed with and for young women of color. Drawing on the students' poetry and an emergent discussion of the war in Iraq, the author argues that the students used language and literacy to transgress the politics of silencing within schools. Through an analysis of the students' efforts to claim agency and credibility within and against dominant discourses and within their school, the author argues that literacy‐rich contexts can be created within schools to assist young women in “making a way.” The article draws from a 10‐month teacher research study into the design and enactment of the course.

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