Alana Diener

Ways of Knowing
Moje - To Be Part of the Story (651 - 685)
26 May 2015
Reading Response 15
In Part of the Story, Moje discusses the practices of gang-affiliated youth, shedding a new and
different light on young gang members, as well as bringing up the issues of education and
literacy as they relate to them. Moje finds that the practices and behaviors of gang-affiliated
children have meaning others are usually unaware of: two seventh-grade boys state, Graffiti is a
state of mind and a sign of respect (651). When asked why she chose to become involved with
gangs, a fifteen-year-old girl said, I guess I just wanted to be part of the story (652).
In many cases, children who find themselves involved with gangs are disenfranchised, whether
because of race, economic status, their place in the social hierarchy, or any other number of
reasons. Moje says that her interest was sparked by the literary practices of gang-affiliated youth,
wondering what the significance was for those who were seen as problem or at-risk students
in other words, who were marginalized in school settings (652). She mentions a theory that
states that students seen as at-risk or low achieving often used unsanctioned literary practices as
a way to resist mainstream school literacies and the social practices and ideologies that
accompany those literacies (654). Naturally, practices such as graffiti would then be forms of
rebellion. However, Moje argues that gang-affiliated youth use such practices as ways to not
only to resist, but also to make meaning about the events in their everyday lives (654).

The idea of being part of the story comes up again and again, showing that these gangaffiliated children, who are more often than not disadvantaged in many ways, have the desire to
be recognized and to take control of their own lives and stories. Aside from graffiti, Moje

discovers that the children she observes participate in a wide range of other literary practices,
including poetry, journal and letter writing, narratives, and a handful of others (661). Through
these practices, the children were capable of building their identities, both as individuals and as
gang members, showing their respect for their fellow gang members, and creating fear in rival
gang members, or non-gang members (662). The pieces they create all show the various ways in
which they are part of many storieshow they fit into their own lives, the lives of their fellow
gang members, the lives of their rivals, and many others.

References
Moje, E. B. (2000). To be part of the story: The literacy practices of gangsta adolescents.
Teachers College Record, 102(3), 651-690.