Course Description
Historical evolution of representations of women and racial minorities in children's literature. Theory and research exploring the relation between children's literature and changing sociocultural and political values and ideologies provide the framework for the course. The relation between sociocultural and political values and more traditional aesthetic considerations.
Athena Title
RACE CLASS GEND LIT
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ELAN 8310
Prerequisite
LLED 6310 or LLED 7310 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
1. Students will become aware (through extensive reading of theoretical and empirical research and the literature itself) of the ways representations of women, selected racial/ethnic groups, and the various social classes are constructed in children's literature. 2. Students will understand the ways representations of women, selected racial/ethnic groups, and the various social classes have evolved over time. 3. Students will become aware of the relation between the evaluation of literature's aesthetic and sociocultural and political values. 4. Students will understand the relation between literature's role as a source of entertainment and delight and its socializing functions. 5. Students will understand the relation between representation and issues of literary response or reception. 6. Students will gain greater understanding of questions of authorship such as whether one must be a member of a culture (e.g., an African or Native American) to write about that culture with authenticity and verisimilitude. 7. Students will become aware of currently available literature about, and resources related to, culturally diverse groups in the United States.
Topical Outline
1. Course Introduction 2. Literature, Response, & Ideology 3. Narrative as a Model of Social Action 4. The Selective Tradition I: Introduction 5. The Selective Tradition II: Selective Forgetfulness 6. The Selective Tradition III: The Slave Experience 7. The Selective Tradition IV: The Civil Rights Era 8. The Politics of Representation and the Construction of Identity 9. The Construction of Gender I 10. The Construction of Gender II: Sexual Identity 11. Folk Literature and Gender 12. Gender and Romance Novels 13. Summaries and Conclusions