The Power of the Performative: Crossing Between Fiction and Reality in Children’s Holocaust Narratives

Session Type: Demonstration/Performance

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the power of the performative in authenticating and understanding children’s Holocaust literature. Teacher and students immerse themselves in Hitler’s Germany, reading primary and secondary documents, memoirs and novels about the holocaust, ultimately performing life histories of holocaust survivors. The research site is a fifth grade in Westminster, Maryland. The research methodology is qualitative teacher research. Data sources include weblogs, interviews, student scripts and videotaped dramatic performances. Findings suggest the power of talk and collaborative writing and the richness of dramatic performances which creates in students empathy and a deeper understanding of what can happen when discrimination and racism are allowed to triumph over acceptance and tolerance.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Biographical and Documentary Research

Chair

• Valarie G. Lee, Rowan University

Papers

• The Power of the Performative: Crossing Between Fiction and Reality in Children’s Holocaust Narratives - Marjorie E. Madden, Rowan University; Susan Browne, Rowan University