aera slides
DESCRIPTION
Slides used for my 2012 AERA paper in the symposium: 'Producing the Young Citizen in Texts of Families, Neighbourhoods, and Nations.'Images are screen shots taken from the film versions of 'The Hunger Games', 'Tomorrow When the War Began', and the Australian television soap 'Neighbours'.TRANSCRIPT
The Girl Next Door: Post-apocalyptic And Everyday Heroines In Popular Young Adult Texts Kelli McGrawQueensland University of Technology
Collins, S. (2008). The hunger games. Scholastic
Marsden, J. (1993). Tomorrow when the war began. Pan Macmillan
Freemantle Media (2011). Neighbours. [various episodes]. FremantleMedia Australia: Richmond
THE TEXTS:
THE CONTEXT:• The ‘girls next door’ –
KatnissEllie Summer
• Popular texts with young adultsIn schools; at the cinema; on television
• Post-apocalyptic and everyday worlds
• Different media used – very similar stories.
THE HUNGER GAMES:
Texts as a pedagogical apparatus – • Do these texts engage a feminist
pedagogy?
• Do they have ‘transformative potential’? (Coffey & Delamont, 2000)
• Do they change dominant ways of thinking?
• What normative assumptions are challenged?
TOMORROW WHEN THE WAR BEGAN:
‘Writing it down means we might be remembered. And by God that matters to us. None of us wants to end up as a pile of dead white bones, unnoticed, unknown, and worst of all, with no one knowing and appreciating the risks we’ve run.’ (p.2)
NEIGHBOURS:‘the model citizen at the heart of liberal education … is being prepared for economic, political & cultural life in the public sphere …’ (Lynch, Lyons & Cantillon, 2007)
(e.g. Summer – passionate about equity and social justice; goal to be a journalist; besieged by ethical dilemmas )
THE ‘IDEAL’ CITIZEN?• Obligation to family• Reluctant heroine
• Solidarity with local communities & beyond
• Sacrifices personal safety/success for the greater good
SIGNIFICANCE:
FIN
Straight white females…
…who all experience great suffering and loss as a result of heroic actions.
‘to know is not enough’…?