Examining Rhetorical Constructions of “Book Boundaries” in Michigan School Board Election Campaigns as Enactments of White Christian Nationalism’s Vision for Literacy Censorship

Across the United States, White Christian Nationalism (WCN) has emerged in public discourse, policy, and practice around literacy education, particularly in school board campaigns where WCN candidates advocate for literacy censorship. In this paper, we examine data from school board candidates (n = 11) endorsed by Ottawa Impact (OI), a political action group in Ottawa County, MI that we interpret as WCN. We contextualize OI rhetoric regarding “book boundaries” (terminology from the data) in the historical and theological foundations of the Dutch Reformed Christian population of Ottawa County. Through this contextualization, we examine how OI candidates’ perspectives on literacy censorship reflect their vision of God’s dominion over the US nation-state and lead to the enactment of policies that forward parents’ sovereignty over the contents of children’s education under the guise of protecting “childhood innocence.” This examination reveals WCN’s influence in literacy education—impacting not only what children read, but also who decides.