Teens, Text, and Trauma

• In Event: 65.080 - Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: 65.080-2 - Toward Justice: Critical Perspectives on Diverse Books for Young Audiences

Abstract

In this presentation, we are looking at how young adults position their own bodies as the text, as the mode of communication. Although some YAL novels’ protagonists’ bodies are the site of the traumatizing event (e.g., Sarah Byrnes’ facial scars are the result of her father’s abuse), in this study, we are examining characters who use their bodies as a way to speak for them, to be their voice. We propose to use both feminist and trauma lenses, because we see a trend in YAL writers moving from inscribing societal concerns upon their protagonists’ bodies to having their main characters use their bodies to write the traumatizing event.

Authors

• Alfreda Maria Clegg, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Lottie Waggoner, Indiana University - Bloomington