Cross-Worlds: Short Stories on Global Themes

I woke up with a vivid thought one day - how can we introduce our students, in schools and in NIE, to newer writers and more importantly, writers who explore contemporary global issues? Everyday, we read about terrorist attacks, asylum seekers, instances of xenophobia, the effects of climate change and so on. Yet, the literature classroom appears to be disconnected from everyday reality. Policymakers continue to emphasize the importance of educating students for the twenty-first century but in reality, pedagogical approaches may not have changed much. A number of literature teachers continue to find security in familiar texts such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm,  Lord of the Flies etc. How can we expose teachers and students to newer writers as well as a wider range of writers from around the world?

The development of this book was no easy matter. The first obstacle was finding a willing publisher. I approached two publishers who declined after considering the proposal for some time. The reason was that they did not think the literature school market was big enough to warrant such a project even though the book was also to be sold to the public. This made me more aware of the challenges local writers and researchers face. If enrolment in literature remains as it is or continues to fall, this will have a trickle-down effect on writers, researchers and publishers and the overall literary culture in our country. Some time passed and I managed to contact Marshall Cavendish. Thankfully, they believed in the value of this project and were willing to give it a shot.

The second obstacle was funding. Copyright cost for the book came up to about S$7000 and I was about to throw in the towel until I met someone who suggested I approach various organizations to request for funding. Thanks to the Lee Foundation and Singapore Teachers Union, I managed to obtain a grant that covered these costs. 

The book has finally been published and was off the press a few days ago! It has been a tremendous joy to work on this project. Although the anthology contains only ten stories, the selection of these stories took many months. I read countless stories and anthologies and much time was also spent corresponding with the authors and negotiating with their publishers. Broadly, I was guided by a few principles: 1. I wanted a range of contemporary writers originating from different parts of the world; 2. Each story had to deal with different global themes that I thought was important for students and readers to explore; 3. Finally, the quality of writing had to be compelling. Part of my research also involved reading critical literary reviews about each story I chose and I dare say that every single story in this collection has been intentional and carefully selected. I'm also thankful to my colleagues and friends who spent time during their holidays looking at the drafts and giving me critical feedback: Amelia Gan, Angelia Poon, Chin Ying Fen, Foo Soo Ling, Kali Sri Sivanantham, Matthew Crawshaw, Noridah Moosa, Reena Kaur, Sakunthalai Surian, Sandra Teng, Tessa Khew, Junaidah Abdul Wahab and Yang Wei.

I hope that literature teachers will pick up this book and introduce the stories to their students. More importantly, may the stories inspire new ways of engaging with urgent issues in our world today and help our students to be more globally aware, informed and empathetic. The book will also be available in local bookstores and I hope the general reader will find it provocative as well.

To read the introduction that provides an overview of the book, click here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nsRENqHMTvGcekG0Q7eUbL-HyFOq8v0sySbmmDoxgK0/edit?pli=1

More info on the book can also be found here: http://www.marshallcavendish.com/marshallcavendish/genref/CrossWorlds_B882_Singapore.aspx

Litup Festival 27 September

I'll be joining Ken Mizusawa, Desmond Kon, and Marc Nair in a panel on "Reading The World: 21st Century Literature" on 27th September, from 12-1pm at Music Studio 1 at Aliwal Arts Centre. 

This is part of the Litup Festival. Visit this site for more info: www.litup.sg

Synopsis: Join three eminent educators who are also passionate writers and experts in their respective fields as they discuss the way forward for Singapore to encounter and embrace literature in the 21st century.

2014 Critics Choice Book Award, American Educational Studies Association

My book Reading the world, the globe, and the cosmos: Approaches to teaching literature for the twenty-first century, published by Peter Lang, New York in 2013 has won the 2014 Critics Choice Book Award by the American Educational Studies Association.

Each year, a committee of AESA members selects a number of titles it regards as outstanding books that may be of interest to those in educational studies. These books are designated as AESA Critics’ Choice Award winners and are displayed prominently at the annual meeting.

The Critics’ Choice Award serves to recognize and increase awareness of recent scholarship deemed to be outstanding in its field and of potential interest to members of the Association.

For more information on the award, see: http://www.educationalstudies.org/awards.html

Invest in literature education for our young

The National Schools Literature Festival was held on 12 July 2014 at Dunman High School. Altogether about 85 schools, 15000 students turned up. The image on the right involve members of the organizing committee.

Here are some of the wonderful comments we received:

 "Large turn out of students and teachers. Great. Fantastic gathering of people with an interest in literature. Confident students on duty. Open to many schools to participate."

"The events—educational yet fun—really rekindled the passion for many of the students I observed, and in fact made me go home with a renewed appreciation for what literature can do in my classroom."

"The different activities enhanced students' learning especially the debates; provided students with other valuable perspectives and hone their skills of analysis."

"They realised Literature was a lot more fun and interesting, especially when they saw their peers in action."

"They recognised that literature is fun, and not just a subject to study for exams."


"I think my students got to experience Lit in an engaging and exciting way that no classroom environment could provide. The sheer size of the Lit Fest was also exhilarating for the students."

For more info on the festival, visit: http://nationalschoolslitfest.wikispaces.com/

The following is a post I wrote that was published in the forum page of Straits Times on July 23, 2014. I wrote this after the National Schools Literature Festival which coincided at the time with NLB's censoring of books. 

OVER a week ago, the National Schools Literature Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary. More than 150 teachers and 1,500 students from 76 secondary schools participated in this annual event to celebrate literature.

Unfortunately, public attention was centred on the National Library Board controversy and the event was largely overlooked.

Besides the censorship of books, another issue that should be addressed is the role of literature education in Singapore.


Figures released last year revealed that the number of students taking pure literature at the O levels fell from 48 per cent of the Secondary 4 cohort in 1992 to 22 per cent in 2001, and 9 per cent in 2012.

The main reason that students now have more subjects to choose from does not excuse the need for a more concerted effort to revive this subject.

One fundamental role that literature education can play is the cultivation of a critical reading public that must begin with our young.

This was observed during the festival, where students debated a diversity of issues dealing with relativity in Jean Tay's Everything But The Brain, social perspectives of women's roles in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband, and the extent to which violence in books, such as William Golding's Lord Of The Flies, is unsuitable for younger readers.

Literature education equips students to critically read texts. It teaches them how to negotiate diverse and competing values and beliefs, not through acts of censorship but through dialogue and fostering dispositions of empathy and hospitality towards those from different and marginalised communities in our society and in the world.

While attending the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the man who orchestrated the transportation of Jews and other groups to Auschwitz and other concentration camps during World War II, philosopher Hannah Arendt described him as having "the inability to think from the standpoint of somebody else". She partly attributed this to his reluctance to read anything except Nazi-controlled newspapers and party propaganda.

Arendt provides an important reminder that in our globally interconnected world, we cannot afford to adopt a protectionist stance and need to be more intentional in cultivating among our young the critical-ethical reasoning capacity to engage with a range of literature from around the world, including those that provide perspectives from minority and foreign communities.

Acknowledgments

The ideas for "Reading the world, the globe, and the cosmos" took shape over the last four years and this work would not have been possible without the encouragement or guidance of countless people whom I am grateful for. The following is taken from the acknowledgments section of the book:

This book developed from my dissertation at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA. I am grateful to Dr. Ruth Vinz for her mentorship and guidance throughout the four years of this research, from its initial sketches to its present form. The many insights I gained from our conversations have been vital to the development of this project. I would also like to thank Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz for her consistent support in helping me discover my voice and shaping my thinking on this subject; Dr. David Hansen for pushing me to ask philosophical questions essential to this work and for powerfully expanding my thinking on cosmopolitanism and education; Dr. Gauri Viswanathan for her penetrating wisdom, whose work on the ideological institutionalization of the discipline of English literature first inspired me with ideas that have led to this book; and Dr. Sheridan Blau, whose expansive knowledge of the field of English education has provided rich layers to this work.

 

I am thankful for critical friends without whom this project would have been less enjoyable and less enriching. Nick Sousanis, in particular, has journeyed with me throughout my entire writing process and our regular discussions have contributed to strengthening this work. I have also been fortunate to be able to partner with Deb Sawch and Alison Villanueva on various fieldwork projects that have opened my eyes to twenty-first century education around the world.

 

I thank my editor, Dr. Cameron McCarthy, for his constructive comments and guidance throughout each stage of this project. I am appreciative of Chris Myers, Sophie Appel, Phyllis Korper, and the editorial staff of Peter Lang for the time and effort invested into the production of this book.

 

I am grateful to the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, for providing funding to conduct this research.

 

I owe much of this work to the unwavering support of my family. I am grateful to Wilson Tan, my husband, for his tremendous patience and the unconditional love he has shown me. I thank my parents, Dr. Richard and Tina Choo, for their love, prayers, and everyday acts of concern. Finally, I thank God for His daily provision of grace and strength and in whom all things are possible.

New publication on Literature education

 Choo, Suzanne S. (2013). Reading the world, the globe, and the cosmos: Approaches to teaching literature for the twenty-first century. New York: Peter Lang.
 
Abstract:
 

The purpose of this book is restore the centrality of pedagogy in governing the ways literary texts are received, experienced, and interpreted by students in the classroom. Utilizing a method of pedagogical criticism, it provides an account of core approaches to teaching literature that have emerged across history and the conceptual values informing these approaches. More importantly,

Reading the World discusses how these values have been shaped by broader global forces and key movements in the discipline of English Literature. To varying degrees, these approaches are aimed at cultivating a hospitable imagination so that students may more fully engage with multiple others in the world. Given the reality of an increasingly interconnected twenty-first century, literature pedagogy plays a vital role in schools by demonstrating how world, global, and cosmopolitan approaches to teaching literature can facilitate the prioritization of the other, challenge us to think about how we can be accountable to multiple others in the world, and push us to continually problematize the boundaries of our openness towards the other.

Advanced Praise

“While there are many published accounts of approaches to teaching literature, research on the role of reader in relation to texts, multicultural approaches to teaching literature, and critical and theoretical criticism of literature, I know of no book that provides a focused and historical discussion and presents a previously untapped focus on the centrality of pedagogy in the debates concerning the values and purposes of literature education. Reading The World, The Globe, and the Cosmos delves into the heart of how literature education has ‘come into being’ as a school subject, but one that has a contested and complex history of purpose and value.” (Ruth Vinz, Teachers College, Columbia University)

"Reading the world, the globe and the cosmos combines important historical and philosophical analysis with normative perspectives to teaching Literature for the twenty-first century. It recovers a vital role for Literature pedagogy in our time by inviting us to consider its essential connections to hospitality and hospitable ways of engaging the other.” (Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University)

Excerpts from the Series Editor's Forward

"With this wonderful text, Reading the World, the Globe, and the Cosmos, we must now add Suzanne Choo to this venerable list of feminist intellectuals who want us to consider a wider range of subjects concerning globalization than we normally explore. Choo writes from the perspective that all of these logics related to globalization are now fully articulated to schooling and must pass through the pedagogical encounter in the classroom. Ultimately, globalization must be brought into dialogue with pedagogical criticism. Here the task is to construct from the encounter with literature — reaching back into previous centuries and forward into the twenty-first century — models of thoughtfulness and meaningful, empathetic relationships. [...] The project here is ambitious but urgent. The teaching of literature has often insulated the literary text from the world, recuperating and preserving the “literary” for a vain form of aesthetics. On the other hand, teaching about the world in geography, social studies, etc. has often ignored the imaginative domain of literature. Scholars like Edward Said have sought to overcome this gulf in the disciplines in such powerful ripostes as Orientalism (1979), The World, the Text and the Critic (1994), and On Late Style: Music and Literature against the Grain (2007). Homi Bhaba, in his Locations of Culture (1994), also points to the critically important work of the text in relation to the vigorous life world of subaltern actors. For Bhabha, texts take on their significance in an encounter with human actors at the extremes of Empire: “a literature of empire . . . played out in the wild and wordless wastes of colonial India, Africa, the Caribbean” (Bhabha, 1994, p. 102). The text then is conditioned by the play of globalization’s asymmetries.
Choo builds on these insights by introducing a form of pedagogical criticism that brings the globe into the literature classroom. Her interest here is not to describe the world as it is. Neither is it merely to improve the pedagogy of literature. Choo raises, instead, the issue of teaching new cosmopolitan values through pedagogy by integrating the “hospitable imagination.” The hospitable imagination is a space for the gestation of creative and critical reflexivity. The classroom, after all, may be the place of a kind of last stand in an age of the ever-expanding refeudalization of the public sphere. As such, it offers possibilities for elaborating networks to the world — networks for a New-World imaginative geography and the building up of subaltern knowledges. In this manner, the classroom becomes a space for the staging of a new enterprise in literature studies—for thinking about the world as we mediate aesthetics. The radical promise of Choo’s intervention here is to bring the entire range of aesthetic critique and “reply” (Paz, 1990, p. 5) to the West into a dialogue with globalization from below. Here the concatenation and plurality of voices might serve to reinvigorate the now deeply invaded space of the modern classroom where one might argue the future of humanity resides." (Cameron McCarthy, Director of Global Studies in Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

For more info, click here: http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=77942&cid=367&concordeid=312178
 
To get this from Amazon, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Reading-World-Globe-Cosmos-Twenty-first/dp/1433121778/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376984394&sr=8-1&keywords=reading+the+world+the+globe+and+the+cosmos




Literature and Critical Values Education

The original title of my article published in ST last sunday was "The role of Literature for critical values education in the 21st century" but ST changed it to something along the lines of teaching values. I thought I'd say it upfront that I am opposed to the idea of using literature to teach values but what I do argue for is that literature is a powerful platform for the critical engagement of values. I think this becomes apparent if one reads the full article.

What's the difference? Let's start with the notion of values. The term "values" is linked to the idea of “good” as found in valere, its Latin root, referring to the good or worth of something. We can trace this concept further back to Aristotle who argues, in Nicomachean Ethics, that “Every craft and every investigation, and likewise every action and decision, seems to aim at some good; hence the good has been well described as that at which everything aims.” In other words, everything we do is grounded on a concept of value or a belief in the good of something.

For example, a book is written because the writer upholds certain beliefs about value/good of what he is saying; teachers select certain literary texts for study because they believe it is of value or good for some reason. This value can be individualistic (e.g. writing is liberating and pleasurable to oneself), instrumental (e.g. the literary text contributes to a national narrative), or other-oriented i.e. good for someone else (e.g. the writing contributes to fighting social injustice, human rights for particular groups). Of course, these are not discrete categories but may overlap. The point is that underlying everything we do – every action, every word we write, what we choose to teach in the classroom, what we teach etc. – are values or beliefs in the good of something. One can also perform out of a bad intention but that itself is a value or belief in the good of something.

Now when we talk about literature education, I am specifically referring to literature education in the public sphere which I have argued in the article is premised on criticism. Yes, we can talk about experiencing texts and so on but literature teaching and assessment have been historically established on the principles of criticism. For example, at the secondary and JC level, students are initiated into how to perform critical appreciation, practical criticism, informed response to texts etc.

To take the concept of criticism a little further, literature education equips students to critically engage with the kinds of values and belief systems inherent in texts and informing texts. In this way, criticism disrupts any naive notion of a “pure experience” or innocent reading the text. For example, a student may enjoy reading Animal Farm on my own at home but in the classroom, the teacher facilitates conversations and dialogues about the inherent values in the text e.g. the dangers of totalitarianism that Orwell highlights or the socio-political factors that informed the way the text was produced and received etc.

I think that if we want to argue for Literature education’s significance in the curriculum today, we need to return to the idea of how it equips students with the dispositions and capacities to critically engage with values in all kinds of texts. These dispositions and skills are essential as societies become increasing globally connected and hyer-mediated.