The Association for Bibliotherapy and Applied Literatures (ABAL) is pleased to announce a conference devoted to pedagogy: “Troubling Subjects: Teaching Risky Texts” to be held on April 27th-28th, 2011 at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo. While there has been a significant body of scholarship on trauma, testimony and witnessing in narratives, there has been less critical attention to the work of bringing these texts into the classroom. This conference will focus on circulating strategies to teach texts that take up troubling subjects; have the potential to elicit emotional, powerful or volatile responses; or that provoke responses that may reinforce rather than undo stereotypical representations. What teaching strategies have you developed for narratives that make vulnerable subjects their focus? How do you negotiate cross-cultural encounters between students and texts? What are the risks and what are your pedagogical tools to minimize those risks? If you have had trouble with a particular text, what happened and what have you learned from the experience? Are there some texts that we shouldn’t teach?
ABAL invites you to submit a proposal (300 words) for a workshop, paper (to be discussed rather than read), roundtable, performance or demonstration. Times allotted will be flexible, according to the presentation and format. In your proposal, please outline your presentation plan, any audio-visual and space needs, and your requested time allotment. The deadline for proposals is Friday, December 3rd, 2010.
Please submit proposals and a 50 word biography to Deanna Reder, Assistant Professor of First Nations Studies in English, Simon Fraser University. dhr@sfu.ca or Tara Hyland-Russell, Associate Professor of English, St. Mary’s University College. tara.hyland-russell@stmu.ab.ca.
Please note that "Memory, Mediation, Remediation: An International Conference on Memory in Literature and Film" will be held on April 28-30, 2011 at Wilfrid Laurier University. Participants will have the opportunity of attending both conferences for a combined registration fee.
