Cultural Pluralism in Children's and Adolescent Literature

Catalog description

Reading/discussing literature from multicultural/critical multicultural lenses and how this impacts literacy. LLED 561 Cultural Pluralism in Children's and Adolescent Literature (3) LLED 561 is a critical exploration of literature that addresses multicultural issues and their functions in the classroom. Emphasis is on cultural diversity in children's lives. The course focuses on four main areas. The first of these areas revolves around the concepts of multiculturalism and critical multiculturalism and how they serve as lenses through which students can ask questions about society as represented in literature. It addresses what multicultural literature is, who writes multicultural literature, and how this genre of literature serves as a window into and a mirror of culturally diverse societies. Race/ethnicity, gender, class, disability and cultural authenticity in multicultural literature are discussed. The primary objectives of the course are to enable students to expand their strategies for reading culturally diverse literature, become familiar with resources related to multicultural literature, explore cultural, literacy and socio-political issues related to Children's/adolescent literature and to consider the role that multicultural literature plays in a literacy curriculum.