ERIC Number: EJ1255657
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-Jun
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0045-6713
EISSN: N/A
Reading about Solidarity and Collective Action: Social Minds in Radical Fantasy Fiction
Children's Literature in Education, v51 n2 p144-159 Jun 2020
This article employs the theory of social minds proposed by Alan Palmer ("Social Minds in the Novel," 2010) to argue for the emergence of a group-based thinking, feeling, and acting focused on reforming the status quo, using David Whitley's Agora trilogy (2009--2013) as an example of Radical Fantasy. This particular subgenre of fantasy is seen as radical in the way it envisions an intergenerational struggle by the oppressed against political, racial and economic injustice, resulting in a new social order (Deszcz-Tryhubczak, 2016). The notion of transformation, it is argued, is a characteristic quality of mental functioning in Radical Fantasy storyworlds. Beyond examining Whitley's trilogy in these terms, the article also argues for a broader interest in intergenerational collective action in the field of children's literature as a way of acknowledging texts that extend the aetonormative paradigm of children's books (Nikolajeva, 2010).
Descriptors: Childrens Literature, Social Change, Fantasy, Groups, Literary Genres, Social Action, Cooperation
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A