ABSTRACT
Students explore the lived experiences of urban and immigrant youth in relation to cultural narratives of the American Dream in Ibi Zoboi’s American Street. Using positioning theory, students examine how characters’ lives and worldviews are shaped in everyday interactions as they negotiate relationships, power dynamics, and moral choices. Through drama-based activities, students learn how positioning works as a social and discursive process, how internal motivation shapes positioning, and how changing positions can change one’s view of people and situations.
