Cultural values represented by Hispanic and US superheroes: a text analysis

Abstract

The use of cultural materials in the elementary school classroom has been advocated by the literature as one way to foster minority students' culture and pride (Grant, 1978; Medina, 1972; Norton, 1990; Wilms, 1991). The present study looked at one publication that may be used for this purpose, under the assumption that superheroes, as cultural symbols should embody cultural values that identify their respective cultures. A content analysis of superheat comics Kaliman, Superman, and Batman was conducted in order to analyze the unique cultural values represented by Hispanic and US superheroes respectively. Based in part on an analysis of the Hispanic superheat by Hinds and Tatum (1992), and on story grammar (Rumelhart, 1975), this study adapted and applied a methodology with the Popular Literature Value Analysis Chart (PLVAC) for the analysis of the comics. The present study identified and described the unique cultural values represented by each superheat. Findings indicate that the values represented by the US superheroes differ from those represented by the Hispanic superheat, thus suggesting that the Kaliman publication may be used as a supplementary material for instruction of minority children with Hispanic background.