“There Ain't No Accounting for What Folks See in Their Own Mirrors”: Considering Colorism Within a Sharon Flake Narrative

Abstract

This article describes a study of both textual and reader response analyses ofThe Skin I'm Inby Sharon Flake. Because gender and race constitute central themes in the narrative, Black feminist thought and feminism undergirded the textual critique. Critics' reviews, scholarly articles, and published author interviews also supported the textual analysis. Data were triangulated with excerpts from female student responses to the text and, specifically, their interpretations of the metanarrative of colorism. Reader interpretations occurred during an after‐school book club with middle grade African American students. Findings revealed three ways in which readers identified with the story. These led to a discussion about whether and how the study's findings reflect current conversations in the literacy field about using stories pedagogically to examine and disrupt race‐ and gender‐based inequities.

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