Reading as Activism: Bearing Witness to Trauma and Genocide in YA Lit (NCTE)

Reading as Activism: Bearing Witness to Trauma and Genocide in YA Lit

Saturday, Nov. 21st, 11:00-12:15 PM, Minneapolis Convention Center, 205CD

Five teachers discuss the importance of reading global literature, share their experiences reading unimaginable stories of genocide alongside students, and lead round table discussions on ethical reading practices with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Broken Memory, First They Killed My Father, Forgotten Fire, Tree Girl, and Things Fall Apart.

We organized this session because we believe, as so many teachers do, in reading young adult literature in middle and secondary classrooms, and we believe that reading can move people to think and act and relate to others with greater compassion. That said, we also believe in reading literature that documents stories and lives often pushed to the margins or even off the page in text books and mainstream media. We include stories of children who not only endure but triumph over unimaginable triumph as a testimony to and document of the trauma suffered by children around the world.

In this session, however, we want to focus on how we go about reading such literature — careful not to perpetuate stereotypes, careful not to conflate or overly simplify the complexities of war and genocide, careful not to make a spectacle of the people who endured such atrocities. In short, our round table sessions are a discussion of the ethics of reading about trauma and genocide.