A Critical Content Analysis of Multicultural Young Adult Literature

In most high schools, students read countless texts, that promote heteronormative, whitewashed narratives of American historical and cultural events (Feingold et.al, 2023). This study aimed to uncover how adolescent identity is represented in multicultural YAL. In this study, I conducted a critical content analysis of multicultural young adult literature (YAL) using two theoretical frameworks: critical multicultural analysis (CMA) and critical race theory (CRT). CMA will serve as both a framework and a methodology, while CRT provided the opportunity to systematically understand the influence of racism from the point of view of those who were oppressed. My investigation follows the main character narratives of selected multicultural YAL in How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (Alvarez, 1991); Mexican Whiteboy (Penña, 2008); and The Hate U Give (Thomas, 2017). I present three main threads about cultural representations and identities across the novels: language, socio-economic status, and race/ethnicity. If a character experiences a disconnect in all three of these areas, then that character enters the void. I also discuss implications for teachers who might get to choose multicultural exemplar texts to include in their curricula.