Reading Literature in a "Critical Space"

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Issues in Sight, Sound, and Culture

Abstract

This paper reports on an empirical study of a literature project at a residential home for detained youth in Sweden. Informed by critical literacy, the aim of the study is to explore the ways in which versions of empowerment in relation to reading are performed. The ethnographic study uses observations and interviews with students and teachers to understand the ambiguous and at times contradictory ways that empowerment is enacted. Empowerment can align with or refuse to align with dominant literacies or institutionalized expectations of development and improvement. In light of the findings, the paper discusses two different versions of empowerment in tension with each other that are enacted in the material.

Author

• Elin Sundström Sjödin, Mälardalen University