"Now you know the fear your ancestors drove into the hearts of my people!
Now you suffer as they suffered. It was the first of your father's family who
came to this land. They took salmon with their nets and drove away our
people with guns and killed them for no reason. This arrow can cut the life
from you as bullets cut it from us. Think of the agony of this arrow into your
flesh and then a knife slashed across your throat!" - Kevin Major, _Blood
Red Ochre_ (1994)
Genocide, infanticide, incest, abuse, political violence, abandonment,
murder: from Cinderella, whose father at least in one version of the tale
insists on marrying her himself, through Shanawdithit to Anne Frank,
young people have been witnesses to and victims of physical and mental
atrocities, the like of which leave us staggering, open-mouthed.
We want children to learn about war, about divorce, pedophilia, and all the
dangers of the world, but how should we best tell them? _Canadian
Children's Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse_, a
bilingual journal of criticism and review founded in 1975, is interested in
narratives of escape from and confrontation with trauma--political,
domestic, or personal. We invite papers that explore the pedagogical
and/or literary strategies associated with reading and teaching such tales
and the psychological and philosophical issues they raise. Some
questions to consider are as follows:
- How do we as teachers, librarians, parents, and artists handle tales of
trauma? Are there pedagogical strategies that we can share to help us
teach these stories to young people?
- Are some tales just too risky to tell?
- How necessary are these stories to the psychological development of
children? What is the value of vicarious experience of trauma?
- What sort of portrait of the world--personal, national, or international--do
they offer? This is particularly relevant to tales of escape from political
oppression or violence.
- How negative is the portrait of humanity in these books?
- How is human agency and duty portrayed, particularly that of the young?
- Who or what is "blamed" for the harrowing experiences the tales relate?
We are interested in young people's testimonials (factual or fictional),
historical accounts about or by young people, picture books, films, and
novels. We require that at least one of the works under examination be
Canadian.
The deadline for final papers is 1 Sept. 2002. Please send inquiries via
e-mail to ccl@uoguelph.ca and final papers via regular mail to The
Editors, Canadian Children's Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la
jeunesse, 4th Floor, MacKinnon Building, University of Guelph, Guelph,
Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
We welcome papers in English or in French. An index of previous issues,
subscription information, and current guidelines for contributors can be
found at our website: http://www.uoguelph.ca/englit/ccl/
-- Benjamin Lefebvre, Acting AdministratorCanadian Children's Literature / Littérature canadienne pour la jeunesse 4th Floor, MacKinnon Building University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1
Phone: (519) 824-4120 ext. 3189 Fax: (519) 837-1315 E-mail: ccl@uoguelph.ca Website: http://www.uoguelph.ca/englit/ccl/
=============================================== From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List CFP@english.upenn.edu Full Information at http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/ or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu ===============================================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Mar 02 2002 - 22:00:33 EST