Katie Sciurba, Ph.D.

Biography

Katherine (Katie) Sciurba, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Literacies and Children’s Literature in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at UGA. She is an experienced elementary school teacher and, for nearly 20 years, has taught writing to K-12 children in after-school and intervention contexts. Her research focuses on the intersections of young people’s identities and literacy practices with an emphasis on the reading experiences of Boys of Color, popular culture as a vehicle for literacy instruction, and representations of race, gender, and current/recent historical events in children’s literature. Her first academic book, READING AND RELEVANCE, REIMAGINED: CELEBRATING THE LITERACY LIVES OF YOUNG MEN OF COLOR, will be published by Teachers College Press in Fall 2024. Her other scholarly work has been published in venues such as Teachers College Record, Journal of Literacy Research, Research in the Teaching of English, Science Fiction Studies, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and Children’s Literature in Education. She is also the author of texts for children, including the picture book, OYE, CELIA!: A SONG FOR CELIA CRUZ (Henry Holt, 2007).

Areas of Expertise

  • literacy education
  • elementary education
  • children's literature

Interests

  • critical literacy
  • reading and relevance
  • intersections of literacy and identity
  • sociopolitical messaging in children's literature (picture books)
  • literacy and meaning-making
  • popular culture (music, comics, Disney, etc.) in education
  • representations of race, class, and gender in children's literature

Education

  •  Ph.D. in English Education, 2011
    New York University
  •  MS in Elementary Education, 2005
    Mercy College
  •  MFA in Creative Writing for Children, 2003
    The New School
  •  BA in Literatures of the World (Literatures in Spanish and Creative Writing), 2001
    University of California, San Diego

Contact

 Aderhold Hall, 309C
 706-542-4505 (office)

Publications

Scholarly Books and Chapters

READING AND RELEVANCE, REIMAGINED: CELEBRATING THE LITERACY LIVES OF YOUNG MEN OF COLOR
Based on case studies of six young Black, Latino, and South Asian men and their reading experiences, this book reconceptualizes the term relevance as it applies to and is applied within literacy education (middle school through college). The author reveals how four dimensions of relevance—Identity, Spatiality, Temporality, and Ideology—can guide educators in supporting the reading and meaning-making experiences of students in ways that honor the complexities of their lives and enhance their criticality. Sciurba frames relevance from a student-centered perspective as conditions that are practically, socially, and/or conceptually applicable to one’s life. Readers can use this book to disrupt problematic enactments of relevance in literacy spaces that are rooted in assumptions about who young people are, culturally or otherwise, as well as how they think and maneuver through their complex worlds.

Writing for Children

OYE, CELIA: A SONG FOR CELIA CRUZ
A little girl carries her favorite record with her to an impromptu neighborhood dance party and calls out for her favorite singer. “Oye, Celia!” she shouts. And as she dances she tells Celia what she hears in her singing–loss, passion, sadness, happiness, history, and more. OYE, CELIA was named a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children’s Book of the Year.
  • Sciurba, K. (2007). OYE, CELIA: A SONG FOR CELIA CRUZ. Henry Holt.

Select Scholarly Articles

Textual Relevance, Ten Years Later: Young Black Men Reflect on a Decade of Reading Experiences
  • Sciurba, K. (2022). Textual Relevance, Ten Years Later: Young Black Men Reflect on a Decade of Reading Experiences. Research in the Teaching of English, 56(4).
Body Knowledge, Reproductive Anxiety, and "Paying the Rent" in Octavia E. Butler's BLOODCHILD
  • Jenkins, J.R. & Sciurba, K. (2022). Body Knowledge, Reproductive Anxiety, and “Paying the Rent” in Octavia E. Butler’s BLOODCHILD. Science Fiction Studies, 49(1).
March of the Coup Clutz Clowns: David LaMotte's WHITE FLOUR and the Clowning of White Supremacy
  • Sciurba, K. (2022). March of the Coup Clutz Clowns: David LaMotte’s WHITE FLOUR and the Clowning of White Supremacy. The Lion and the Unicorn, 45(3), 257-273.
Black Youth Poetry of 2020 and Reimagined Literacies
  • Sciurba, K. (2021). Black Youth Poetry of 2020 and Reimagined Literacies. Journal of Literacy Research, 53(4).
Depicting Hate: Picture Books and the Realities of White Supremacist Crime and Violence
  • Sciurba, K. (2020). Depicting Hate: Picture Books and the Realities of White Supremacist Crime and Violence. Teachers College Record, 122(8).

Select Scholarly Articles

SMOKY NIGHT and the Un-telling of the L.A. Riots
  • Sciurba, K. & Jenkins, J.R. (2019). SMOKY NIGHT and the Un-telling of the L.A. Riots. Journal of Children’s Literature, 45(1), 4-13.

Select Scholarly Articles

Journeys Toward Textual Relevance: Male Readers of Color and the Significance of Malcolm X and Harry Potter
  • Sciurba, K. (2017). Journeys Toward Textual Relevance: Male Readers of Color and the Significance of Malcolm X and Harry Potter. Journal of Literacy Research, 49(3), 371-392.
Texts as Mirrors, Texts as Windows: Black Adolescent Boys and the Complexities of Textual Relevance
  • Sciurba, K. (2014/2015). Texts as Mirrors, Texts as Windows: Black Adolescent Boys and the Complexities of Textual Relevance. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(4), 308-316.

Awards and Accolades

Mortar Board Faculty Appreciation Award

San Diego State University, 2023