Educational Research Journal

Abstract

This paper explores the role of secondary literature studies to influence the identity formation of an increasingly globalized citizenry, here in Canada, and other settings worldwide where literature in English is taught. The author attempts to answer the question of how, for example, educators build connections between contemporary multicultural writers with those of the canon in ways that develop critical and multiple perspectives. Engagement with literature needs to avoid reducing cultural identity to essential characteristics and focus instead on helping students to question the meanings of authenticity, authority and their impact on notions of self and community. The author argues that this is possible if literature in the classroom is about creating conflict and empowering students to embrace dissonance as part of their evolving identities and dynamically changing communities (Pouwels, 2005).

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