Abstracts
Abstract
At a time when neoliberalism and neoconservatism would compel teachers to focus narrowly on their own contexts, we ask how crossnational conversations can break down boundaries and provide important insights for teaching to social justice. We initiate a conversation between Canada, as a Northern country, and the Nordic countries of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland on the subject of teaching using “diverse” literature. While one main question revolves around deciding what to call the literature (multicultural? diverse? counter-story? migrant? post-colonial?), a more fundamental one centres on how to critically introduce and respond to its presence in the classroom, especially given national identities formed through Northern / Nordic exceptionalism. Imagology represents one promising direction, as does pedagogy of discomfort.
Keywords:
- children's literature,
- diversity,
- Northern,
- Nordic,
- White exceptionalism,
- imagology,
- pedagogy of discomfort
Résumé
À une époque où le néolibéralisme et le néoconservatisme incitent les enseignants à se concentrer étroitement sur leurs propres contextes, nous nous demandons comment des échanges transnationaux peuvent offrir des perspectives importantes pour un enseignement orienté vers la justice sociale. Nous amorçons un dialogue entre le Canada, en tant que pays du Nord, et les pays nordiques sur la question de l’enseignement à partir d’une littérature « diversifiée ». Si une question centrale consiste à déterminer comment nommer cette littérature, une question plus fondamentale porte sur la manière d’aborder sa présence en classe de façon critique, particulièrement dans des contextes où les identités nationales se sont construites autour d’un exceptionnalisme nordique/du Nord. L’imagologie et la pédagogie de l’inconfort constituent des pistes prometteuses.
Mots-clés :
- littérature jeunesse,
- diversité,
- nord,
- nordiques,
- capital blanc ou blanchité,
- imagologie,
- pédagogie de l’inconfort
Appendices
Bibliography
- Adventure Canada. (2023a, October 14). Join Margaret Atwood on an Arctic expedition like no other [Advertisement]. The Globe and Mail.
- Adventure Canada. (2023b). Join Margaret Atwood on an Arctic expedition like no other. https://web.archive.org/web/20240415000345/https://www.adventurecanada. com/lp/join-margaret-atwood-on-arctic-expedition
- Asbjørnsen, P. C., & Moe, J. E. (1966). East of the sun and west of the moon and other tales (T. Vroman, Illus.). Macmillan.
- Balzer, G., Strong-Wilson, T., & Burke, A. (2023). Introduction. In G. Balzer, T. Strong-Wilson, & A. Burke (Eds.), Teaching social justice using postcolonial texts: Encountering pedagogies of discomfort in practice (pp. 1–9). Springer.
- Banks, J. A. (2007). Educating citizens in a multicultural society (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.
- Bech Albertsen, A. N. (2013). Mellem samfundsnassere, ofre og mønsterindvandrere. Stereotype indvandrerræpresentationer i de danske medier, samtidslitteratur og den offentlige debat. [Between welfare scroungers, victims, and model immigrants. Stereotypical representations of immigrants in the Danish media, contemporary literature, and public debate]. In S. Frank & M. Ü. Necef (Eds.), Indvandreren i dansk film og litteratur (pp. 198–228). Forlaget Spring.
- Berlant, L. (2022). On the inconvenience of other people. Duke University Press.
- Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom, 6(3), 9–11.
- Blaagaard, B. B. (2009). The flipside of my passport: Myths of origin and genealogy of White supremacy in the mediated social genetic imaginary. In S. Keskinen, S. Tuori, S. Irni., & D. Mulinari (Eds.), Complying with colonialism: Gender, race and ethnicity in the Nordic region (pp. 51–65). Ashgate.
- Boler, M. (1999). Feeling power: Emotions and education. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203009499
- Boler, M., & Zembylas, M. (2003). Discomforting truths: The emotional terrain of understanding difference. In P. P. Trifonas (Ed.), Pedagogies of difference: Rethinking education for social justice (pp. 107–130). Routledge.
- Burke, A., Johnston, I., & Ward, A. (2017). Introduction. In A. Burke, I. Johnston, & A. Ward (Eds.), Challenging stories: Canadian literature for social justice in the classroom (pp. 1–10). Canadian Scholars.
- Cai, M., & Bishop, R. S. (1994). Multicultural literature for children: Towards a clarification of the concept. In A. H. Dyson & C. Genishi (Eds.), The need for story: Cultural diversity in classroom and community (pp. 57–72). National Council of Teachers of English.
- CBC Books. (2019, October 25). Margaret Atwood donating Booker Prize winnings to Indspire to support education of Indigenous students. https://www.cbc.ca/books/margaret-atwood-donating-booker-prize-winnings-to-indspire-to-support-education-of-indigenous-students-1.5335009
- Chambers, C. (2012). “We are all treaty people”: The contemporary countenance of Canadian curriculum studies. In N. Ng-A-Fook & J. Rottmann (Eds.), Reconsidering Canadian curriculum studies: Provoking historical, present, and future perspectives (pp. 23–38). Routledge.
- Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.
- Dahle, G. (2003). Sinna mann (S. Nyhus, Illus.). Cappelen Damm.
- Daniel, N. (2015). Preface: The origins of Norway’s famous folktales. In N. Daniel (Ed.), East of the sun and west of the moon: Old tales from the north (K. Nielsen, Illus.; pp. 12–15). Taschen.
- Delhey, J., & Newton, K. (2005). Predicting cross-national levels of social trust: Global pattern or Nordic exceptionalism? European Sociological Review, 21(4), 311–327. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jci022
- Edwards, G., & Saltman, J. (2010). Picturing Canada: A history of Canadian children’s illustrated books and publishing. University of Toronto Press.
- Gokieli, N. (2017). “I want us to trade our skins and experiences”: Swedish Whiteness and “immigrant literature.” Scandinavian Studies, 89(2), 266–286.
- Helle, K. (2003). Introduction. In K. Helle (Ed.), The Cambridge history of Scandinavia: Vol. 1. Prehistory to 1520 (pp. 1–12). Cambridge University Press.
- Hulan, R. (2002). Northern experience and the myths of Canadian culture. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- Johnston, I., & Bainbridge, J. (Eds.). (2013). Reading diversity through Canadian picture books: Preservice teachers explore issues of identity, ideology, and pedagogy. University of Toronto Press.
- Kjeldstadli, K. (2012). Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland. In K. J. Bade, P. C. Emmer, L. Lucassen, & J. Oltmer (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of European migration and minorities: From the seventeenth century to the present (pp. 5–12). Cambridge University Press.
- Kokkola, L., & Van den Bossche, S. (2020a). Introduction: Diversity in Nordic children’s and young adult literature. Barnboken: Journal of Children’s Literature Research, 43, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.14811/clr.v43.525
- Kokkola, L., & Van den Bossche, S. (2020b). Diversifying understandings of diversity: Possible routes for Nordic children’s literature. Barnboken: Journal of Children’s Literature Research, 43, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.14811/clr.v43.521
- Kongslien, I. (2007). New voices, new themes, new perspectives: Contemporary Scandinavian multicultural literature. Scandinavian Studies, 79(2), 197–226.
- Lam, T. (2020). The paper boat. Owlkids Books.
- Loftsdóttir, K., & Jensen, L. (2016). Introduction: Nordic exceptionalism and Nordic ‘others.’ In K. Loftsdóttir & L. Jensen (Eds.), Whiteness and postcolonialism in the Nordic region: Exceptionalism, migrant others and national identities (pp. 1–11). Routledge.
- Leerssen, J. (2007). Imagology: History and method. In M. Beller & J. Leerssen (Eds.), Imagology: The cultural construction and literary representation of national characters: A critical survey (pp. 17–32). Brill.
- Manderson, D. (2003). From hunger to love: Myths of the source, interpretation, and constitution of law in children’s literature. Law and Literature, 15(1), 87–141. https://doi.org/10.1525/lal.2003.15.1.87
- Mansour, N., & Martin, M. H. (2020). What can Danish multicultural children’s literature and African American children’s literature learn from each other? Literary histories in dialogue. Barnboken: Journal of Children’s Literature Research, 43, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.14811/clr.v43i0.503
- McBean, K., & Piazza, R. (2023). Complicating empathy: An ‘educational’ journey towards ethical responsibilities, subjectification, and reconciliation in our ELA classrooms. In G. Balzer, T. Strong-Wilson, & A. Burke (Eds.), Teaching social justice using postcolonial texts: Encountering pedagogies of discomfort in practice (pp. 87–98). Springer.
- Meek, M. (1992). Children reading — now. In M. Styles, E. Bearne, & V. Watson (Eds.), After Alice: Exploring children’s literature (pp. 172–188). Cassell.
- Myers, C. (2014, March 15). The apartheid in children’s literature. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/opinion/sunday/the-apartheid-of-childrens-literature.html
- Nikolajeva, M. (2010). Power, voice and subjectivity in literature for young readers. Routledge.
- Nyyssönen, J. (2013). Sami counter-narratives of colonial Finland: Articulation, reception and the boundaries of the politically possible. Acta Borealia: A Nordic Journal of Circumpolar Societies, 30(1), 101–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/08003831.2013.776738
- Olarewaju, T. (2023, January 11). Residential school system recognized as genocide in Canada’s House of Commons: A harbinger of change. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/residential-school-system-recognized-as-genocide-in-canadas-house-of-commons-a-harbinger-of-change-196774
- Ommundsen, Å. M. (2011). Childhood in a multicultural society? Globalization, childhood, and cultural diversity in Norwegian children's literature. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 49(1), 31–40. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/bkb.2011.0010
- Ommundsen, Å. M., Haaland, G., & Kümmerling-Meibauer, B. (2022). Exploring challenging picturebooks in education: International perspectives on language and literature learning. Routledge.
- Ommundsen, Å. M., Stavem, G. M., & Øgreid, A. K. (2023). The role of the child in a war zone: 10-year-old students' responses to a cognitively challenging picturebook on war: An interview study. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 61(3), 4–16. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/bkb.2023.a903435
- O’Sullivan, E. (2005). Comparative children’s literature. Routledge.
- O'Sullivan, E., & Immel, A. (Eds.). (2017). Imagining sameness and difference in children's literature: From the Enlightenment to the present day. Springer.
- Palmberg, M. (2009). The Nordic colonial mind. In S. Keskinen, S. Tuori, S. Irni, & D. Mulinari (Eds.), Complying with colonialism: Gender, race and ethnicity in the Nordic region (pp. 35–50). Ashgate.
- Pelliccioni, S. (2018). Meidän piti lähteä [We had to leave]. Kustantamo S&S.
- Pente, P. V. (2009). The hidden curriculum of wilderness: Images of landscape in Canada. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 7(1), 111–134. https://doi.org/10.25071/1916-4467.22103
- Pesonen, J. (2020). Meidän piti lähteä and the problematics of voicing the refugee experience in a wordless picturebook. Barnboken: Journal of Children’s Literature Research, 43, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.14811/clr.v43i0.485
- Phelan, A. M., & Janzen, M. D. (2024). Feeling obligated: Teaching in neoliberal times. University of Toronto Press.
- Pinar, W. F. (2023). A praxis of presence in curriculum theory: Advancing currere against cultural crises in education. Routledge.
- Pitt, A., & Britzman, D. (2003). Speculations on qualities of difficult knowledge in teaching and learning: An experiment in psychoanalytic research. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 16(6), 755–776. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390310001632135
- Regan, P. (2010). Unsettling the settler within: Indian residential schools, truth telling, and reconciliation in Canada. UBC Press.
- Rothberg, M. (2009). Multidirectional memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the age of decolonization. Stanford University Press.
- Rothberg, M. (2019). The implicated subject: Beyond victims and perpetrators. Stanford University Press.
- Salisbury, M., & Styles, M. (2012). Children’s picturebooks: The art of visual storytelling. Laurence King Publishing.
- Sawyer, P. (2003). The Viking expansion. In K. Helle (Ed.), The Cambridge history of Scandinavia: Vol. 1. Prehistory to 1520 (pp. 105–120). Cambridge University Press.
- Shepard, T. (2006). The invention of decolonization: The Algerian war and the remaking of France. Cornell University Press.
- Short, K. G. (2019). The dangers of reading globally. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 57(2), 1–11. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/bkb.2019.0025
- Somhegyi, Z. (2017). Mother Nature’s exhibition: On the origins of the aesthetics of contemporary Northern landscapes. The Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, 25(52), 28–50. https://doi.org/10.7146/nja.v25i52.25616
- Strong-Wilson, T. (2021). Teachers’ ethical self-encounters with counter-stories in the classroom: From implicated to concerned subjects. Routledge.
- Strong-Wilson, T., & Huang, Y. (2023). “I don’t know what they think until they talk”: Exploring the place of talk in engaging students in difficult conversations. In G. Balzer, T. Strong-Wilson, & A. Burke (Eds.), Teaching social justice using postcolonial texts: Encountering pedagogies of discomfort in practice (pp. 127–139). Springer.
- Strong-Wilson, T., Johnston, I., Wiltse, L., Burke, A., Phipps, H., & Gonzalez, I. (2014). Reverberating chords: Implications of storied nostalgia for borderland discourses in pre-service teacher identity. Teachers and Teaching, 20(4), 394–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2014.881642
- Strong-Wilson, T., Yoder, A., & Phipps, H. (2014). Going down the rabbit-hole: Teachers’ engagements with ‘dialectical images’ in Canadian children’s literature on social justice. Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, 21(1), 71–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/1358684X.2013.876143
- Sundmark, B. (2008). Lagerlöf’s legacy: A hundred years of writing the nation. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 46(3), 14–21. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/bkb.0.0105
- Tilley, S., & Redmond, N. (2023). Using post-colonial literature to teach for social justice: Student voice and the curriculum. In G. Balzer, T. Strong-Wilson, & A. Burke (Eds.), Teaching social justice using postcolonial texts: Encountering pedagogies of discomfort in practice (pp. 113–126). Springer.
- Vassiloudi, V. (2019). International and local relief organizations and the promotion of children’s and young adult refugee narratives. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 57(2), 35–49. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/bkb.2019.0016
- Vuorela, U. (2009). Colonial complicity: The ‘postcolonial’ in a Nordic context. In S. Keskinen, S. Tuori, S. Irni., & D. Mulinari (Eds.), Complying with colonialism: Gender, race and ethnicity in the Nordic region (pp. 19–33). Ashgate.
- Wiltse, L., Menon, J., & Jin, J. (2023). Stepping into the discomfort zone: Exploring tensions and possibilities for social justice teaching with post-colonial children’s literature. In G. Balzer, T. Strong-Wilson, & A. Burke (Eds.), Teaching social justice using postcolonial texts: Encountering pedagogies of discomfort in practice (pp. 45–58). Springer.
- Yoder, A., & Strong-Wilson, T. (2017). The limits of “understanding”: Teaching residential School stories in the classroom. In A. Burke, I. Johnston, & A. Ward (Eds.), Challenging stories: Canadian literature for social justice in the classroom (pp. 88–103). Canadian Scholars.
- Zembylas, M. (2023). Revisiting “pedagogy of discomfort” through the combined lenses of “inconvenience” and “affective infrastructure”: Pedagogical and political insights. Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 30(3), 193–206. https://doi.org/10.7202/1111135ar
10.7202/1111135ar