How I Live Now: The Project of Sustainability in Dystopian Young Adult Fiction

Forfattere

  • Jessica Allen Hanssen Nord Universitet, Bodø, Norway

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/spf.v6i2.102084

Nøgleord:

Dystopian, young-adult fi ction, Klafki, sustainability, identity, ecocriticism

Resumé

It is impossible to ignore the enduring and sweeping popularity of young adult novels (YA) written with a dystopian, or even apocalyptic, outlook. Series such as Th e Hunger Games, Th e Maze Runner, and Divergent present dark and boding worlds of amplifi ed terror and societal collapse, and their vulnerable protagonists must answer constant environmental, social, and political challenges, or risk starvation, injury, and various forms
of pain and suff ering. More frequently than not, the tensions of the dystopian YA universe turn to the natural world, one of sustenance and renewal, for resolution. The continued popularity of dystopian fi ction written expressly for young adult readers requires critical examination, as teachers must prepare themselves to deal with the questions raised by these texts. Th e trend toward the dystopian seems like rather a bleak expression of political and social hopelessness, but it does off er certain insights into what young readers want from the world around them. Much of the appeal of the dystopian comes from imagining not just problems, but how to solve them. The ingenuity and resourcefulness displayed in dystopian YA novels is not only appealing, but becomes a bold and ultimately optimistic statement on the need for environmental and social sustainability. The optimal incorporation of dystopian YA into the English as a foreign language (EFL) curriculum relies on the preparation of instruction as understood by Wolfgang Klafki in a mode and format that feels fresh and encourages student-led engagement, genuine multimodality, and an organic progression from the closed circle of the classroom to the open arena of adult civilization.

Forfatterbiografi

Jessica Allen Hanssen, Nord Universitet, Bodø, Norway

Jessica Allen Hanssen (dr. philos 2010, University of Oslo) is an associate professor of English at the Faculty for Education, Atrs and Culture at Nord University in Bodø, Norway, where she has been teaching since 2007. Hanssen’s professional interests include short-story theory, American literature, middle grades education, and young adult fiction. She is a member of the research group "Culture and Education" at Nord University and the "Young Language Learners" research network hosted by University of Stavanger. Her up-to-date research profile can be viewed here: https://wo.cristin.no/as/WebObjects/cristin.woa/wa/fres?sort=ar&pnr=361429&la=no&action=sok

Referencer

Berger, Peter, and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality, Penguin, Middlesex, 1967. Campbell, Alex, “Why is Dystopian Fiction Still So Popular?” The Guardian, 18 November 2014. Accessed online: https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/nov/18/hunger-games-dystopian-fiction-appeal-to-teenagers-alex-campbell Cart, Michael, “From Insider to Outsider: The Evolution of Young Adult Literature,” Voices from the Middle, Volume 9 Number 2. National Council of Teachers of English, 2001, 95-97. Dewey, John. “My Pedagogic Creed,” School Journal vol. 54, January 1897, 77-80. Accessed 1 November 2017. http://dewey.pragmatism.org/creed.htm Drew, Ion., Oostdam, R. and van Toorenburg, H., “Teacher’s experiences and perceptions of primary EFL in Norway and the Netherlands. A comparative study”, European Journal of Teaching Education, 2013, 319-41. Doughty, Terri. “Dreaming Into Being: Liminal Space in Charles de Lint’s Young Adult Mythic Fiction,” Knowing Their Place? Identity and Space in Children’s Literature. Ed. Doughty, Terri and Dawn Thompson. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, 155-170. Doughty, Terri and Dawn Thompson. “Introduction,” Knowing Their Place? Identity and Space in Children’s Literature. Ed. Doughty and Thompson. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, 1-6. Hall, Kathy (et al). “Assessing English within the arts,” Liora Bressler (Ed.) International Handbook of Research in Arts Education, Springer, 2007, 395-408. Hegel, G.F.W., Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, Vol III, Trans. William Wallace, Oxford UP, 1971, 408. Honneth, Axel. “From Desire to Recognition: Hegel’s Grounding of Self-Consciousness,” The I in We: Studies in the Theory of Recognition, Trans. Joseph Ganahl, Cambridge, Polity, 2012. 3-18. Klafki, Wolfgang, “Didactic Analysis as the Core of Preparation of Instruction (1958),” Journal of Curriculum Studies 27, no. 1, 1995. 13-30. Accessed online: http://faculty.education.illinois.edu/westbury/Abo/Klafki.html --- Dannelsetheori og didadtik – nye studier. Trans. Bjørn Christiansen. Århus: Forlaget Klim, 2001. Maus, Ingvil Gjerdum, “Developing Holistic Understanding in Design Education for Sustainability,” Design for a Sustainable Culture: Perspectives, Practices and Education, Ed. Skjerven, Astrid and Reitan, Janne, Routledge, 2017, 157-170. Mertz, Maja Pank, “The New Realism: Traditional Cultural Values in Recent Young-Adult Fiction,” The Phi Delta Kappan 60, Volume 2, October 1978, 101-105. Miller, Laura, “Fresh Hell: What’s Behind the Boom in Dystopian Fiction for Young Readers?” The New Yorker, June 14 and 21, 2010. Accessed online: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/06/14/fresh-hell-2 Ongstad, Sigmund. “The concept of lifeworld and education in post-modernity. A critical appraisal of Habermas’ theory of communicative action.” In M. Murphy and T. Fleming (Eds.), Habermas, critical theory and education. New York: Routledge, 2010, 47-62. The New London Group, “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies.” Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures, Eds. Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, London: Routledge, 2000, 9-38. Purves, Alan, Rogers, Thesesa, and Soter, Anna O., How Porcupines Make Love II: Teaching a Response-Centered Literature Curriculum, New York: Addison-Wesley, 1990. Rosenblatt, Louise. The reader, the text, the poem. The transactional theory of the literary work, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1978. --- Literature as exploration, New York: Appelton-Century, 1938. Scholes; Justin and Jon Ostenson, “Understanding the Appeal of Dystopian Young Adult Fiction,” ALAN Review Winter 2013, 11-20. Accessed online: https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v40n2/pdf/scholes.pdf Schütz, Alfred. “On Multiple Realities,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 5, No. 4, June 1945, 533-576. Schütz, Alfred and Thomas Luckmann, “The Everyday Life-World and the Natural Attitude,” The Structures of the Life-World, Volume 1, Evanston, IL: Northwestern, 1973, 3-20. Stephens, Jonathan, “Young Adult. A Book by Any Other Name…Defining the Genre,” ALAN Review Fall 2007, 34-42. Accessed online: https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v35n1/stephens.html Tuedio, James A., “Thinking About Home: An Opening for Discovery in Philosophical Practice,” Philosophy in Society. Ed. H. Herrestad, A. Holt and H. Svare. Oslo, Norway: Unipub Forlag, 2002, 210-215. Wagenschein, Martin, “Teaching to Understand. On the Concept of the Exemplary in Teaching.” Translated by J. Salted and C. Holdrege. 2008. Originally published as Zum Begriff des exemplarischen Lehrens. Verstehen lehren. Weinheim: Beltz Verlag, 1997, 11th edition, pp. 27-59. Accessed online: http://natureinstitute.org/txt/mw/exemplary_full.htm Willbergh, Ilmi, “The Representation of Reality in Reaching: A ‘Mimetic Didactic’ Perspective on Examples in Plenary Talk,” Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research 61, Volume 5, May 2016, 616-627. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2016.1172500

Downloads

Publiceret

2018-04-12

Citation/Eksport

Hanssen, J. A. (2018). How I Live Now: The Project of Sustainability in Dystopian Young Adult Fiction. Studier I Pædagogisk Filosofi, 6(2), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.7146/spf.v6i2.102084

Nummer

Sektion

Temaartikler