Abstract

This independent study explores how children’s literature shapes the construction of Latina girlhood within elementary education contexts, using a combined framework of critical pedagogy and Chicana feminist theory, dubbed Chicana feminist critical pedagogy. Drawing on the work of Paulo Freire, Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Cherríe Moraga, this study argues that representation in children’s literature is not neutral, but a critical site where identity and cultural belonging are either affirmed or diminished. Through this lens, literacy is understood as both a pedagogical and political practice, shaping how young readers come to “read the world” alongside the texts they encounter in classrooms. This project also uses a case study methodology to analyze children’s books that have Latino and Indigenous representation. These texts are examined for their use of cultural representation, with particular attention to concepts such as cultural flattening, tokenism, exoticism, and language imbalance. Findings reveal a spectrum of representation that goes in multiple directions, ranging from surface-level inclusion to culturally grounded storytelling that reflects lived experience and emotional depth. The project also includes an original children’s story to put the previous theoretical findings into practice. This study argues that children’s literature plays a significant role in shaping the identity formation of Latina girls and must be approached with critical intentionality. By integrating Chicana feminist theory with Freirean pedagogy, this project calls for a reimagining of children’s literature as a site of empowerment—one that moves beyond tokenistic inclusion to support culturally specific, relational, and self-defined representations of Latina girlhood.

Advisor

Eager, Claire

Department

English

Disciplines

Chicana/o Studies | Children's and Young Adult Literature | Curriculum and Social Inquiry | Educational Methods | Elementary Education | Indigenous Education | Indigenous Studies | International and Comparative Education | Latina/o Studies | Women's Studies

Keywords

Chicana, Elementary Education, Pedagogy, Feminist, Latina, Curriculum, Children's Literature, Girlhood

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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