Teaching The Hate U Give in upper secondary school : Close reading Angie Thomas’s novel in order to develop cultural awareness among upper secondary school students

Abstract: This essay demonstrates how close reading a passage in The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas can teach students of English 6, in Swedish upper secondary schools, about institutional racism in order to develop cultural awareness. The English subject shows the importance of developing cultural awareness when stating that students should develop an understanding of cultural and social conditions in different contexts and areas where English is used. This essay explores if close reading a passage in The Hate U Give is one way of developing cultural awareness. In order to examine the novel's potential, a literary analysis will be done on both the novel and the passage intended for close reading. The analysis demonstrates how using close reading as a method when reading can help gain students’ knowledge of institutional racism in order to develop cultural awareness.