Using Research-Creation Methodologies to Explore Brazilian Cordel Literature in the Childhood Classroom

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 2:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Mapping New Possibilities with Children’s and Young Adult Literature, the Arts, and Read-Alouds

Abstract

This paper draws on a two-year research study in one elementary school in Toronto, Canada at which research-creation methodologies are used to explore the integration of Brazilian Cordel literature in the childhood classroom. I focus on the use of fables and folklore as philosophical texts and, specifically, draw on Cordel literature to argue for the importance of introducing children to alternative literature that provokes affect and emotion. Within this paper I employ Cordel literature as a philosophical and methodological tool and argue that this speculative approach enables a more inclusive conception of philosophy and literature to be explored with children in a diverse school in Toronto.

Author

• Nikki Rotas, Western University