Project Director

Coons, Jayda

Department Examiner

Mitchell, Tiffany; Schultz, Lucy

Department

Brock Scholars Program

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Choices governing canon formation have material, emotional, and intellectual consequences. Within canon formation, authors of different social identities, consistent with macrosocial power differentials, are unequally valued and shape cultural consciousness about which texts are aesthetically and intellectually valuable. It’s important to recognize canon formation as a process of unequally distributing cultural capital and knowledge production. The strategies and imperatives outlined here are basic first steps toward utilizing the classroom as a site to counter misogyny, racism, classism, colonialism, and homophobia. This project aims not only to deepen understanding of the sociological conditions of canon formation but also to impose an ethical imperative to confront it in the classroom through pedagogical methodology and an expanded syllabus that widens the curriculum to include the works and contributions of artists and scholars outside majority identities. It also seeks to center the student experience and to work against forms of epistemic injustice that occur when a traditional canon is the only access for students.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my thesis director, Dr. Jayda Coons, for being so helpful and kind throughout this process. I would also like to thank the other members of my thesis committee, Dr. Tiffany Mitchell and Dr. Lucy Schultz, for providing their unique expertise and perspectives for this project. Without their support, this project would not have been possible.

Degree

B. A.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts.

Date

5-2026

Subject

Canon (Literature); Literature--Study and teaching--Social aspects; Education--Curricula--Social aspects

Keyword

Canon formation; cultural capital; equitable education; critical theory

Discipline

English Language and Literature

Document Type

Theses

Extent

ii, 49 leaves

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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