A Korean immigrant child’s identity negotiation in multicultural book club and critical dialogue as third space

ABSTRACT This study investigates how a Korean immigrant child in the United States negotiates a sense of herself through the participation in a multicultural book club and critical dialogues in an out-of-school setting. Using the lens of third space, it explores how the 7-year-old girl reveals and negotiates conflicting thoughts and ideas about her multiple identities. The research data include field notes of book club meetings and critical dialogues, transcripts of audio recordings of book discussion and critical dialogues, and the child’s journal entries and written artifacts. The interpretive data analysis reveals that the child brought her own understanding of herself and others based on pro-Eurocentrism to the literacy activities. However, the self-assigned identity was constantly challenged by the book club members. Based on the findings, the study discusses the potential of literacy as a catalyst for children’s negotiation of conflicting selves. It also offers pedagogical implications for literacy practice for Asian children and their identity negotiation.