Articles & Chapters by Sean Connors
Transmedia Applications in Literacy Fields , 2024
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Journal of Children's Literature, 2023
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English Journal, 2022
Two professors address the consequences of withholding knowledge from young people and offer a ra... more Two professors address the consequences of withholding knowledge from young people and offer a rationale for teaching challenged books and talking
points for teachers
and librarians.
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High School Journal, 2021
If Young Adult (YA) literature constitutes one of the social mechanisms that indoctrinate teenag... more If Young Adult (YA) literature constitutes one of the social mechanisms that indoctrinate teenagers into working within capitalistic institutions, high school teachers would do well to ask what political and economic ideologies YA fiction invites teenage readers to adopt. This article examines one genre of YA literature—YA dystopian fiction—to understand how it participates in neoliberal discourse. The article begins by defining neoliberalism and describing some of its core assumptions. Responding to arguments that regard YA dystopia as reproducing neoliberalism and its attendant ideologies, the article next examines how the critical dystopia, a type of dystopia that emerged in the 1980s and which critiques oppressive systems by depicting characters who resist them, models strategies for resisting neoliberalism. To demonstrate the different stances that YA dystopias can take in regard to neoliberalism, the article then examines the different degrees of emphasis that three popular YA novels—Divergent (Roth, 2011), The Hunger Games (Collins, 2008), and Orleans (Smith, 2013)—place on individual exceptionalism, competition, and systemic oppression rooted in gender, race, and class. To conclude, the article discusses the implications for high school teachers of asking students to critique neoliberalism in YA literature, and in their lives more broadly.
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Frame: Journal of Literary Studies, 2021
A growing number of people are turning to young adult literature as a road map to address social ... more A growing number of people are turning to young adult literature as a road map to address social injustice through activism, which suggests that literary texts are neither apolitical nor static works of art exploring ‘timeless’ themes. This article examines how two recent young adult protest novels, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017) and The Marrow Thieves by Claire Dimaline (2017), resist the emphasis that neoliberalism—an economic philosophy that advocates for free markets and deregulation—places on extreme individualism and competition. In doing so, these books model collective action as a remedy for neoliberal policies that perpetuate systemic oppression.
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In M. Smith & K. Moruzi (Eds.), Young Adult Gothic Fiction: Monstrous Selves/Monstrous Others
As prequels to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818/1985), the two books that comprise Kenneth Oppel... more As prequels to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818/1985), the two books that comprise Kenneth Oppel’s The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series introduce young adult readers to the Frankenstein family through the eyes of a teenage Victor. This Dark Endeavor (2011) and Such Wicked Intent (2012) serve as entry-level introductions not only to the themes of Shelley’s novel, but also to the historical context in which it was written. The series is particularly notable for its ideological commitment to “leveling the playing field” with regard to representing gender. However, as is often the case with postfeminist approaches to young adult literature, there are limitations to this approach that invite productive conversations about the historical emergence of feminist movements and their current relevance in a neoliberal context (Connors and Trites, 2018; Pomerantz and Raby, 2015).
In a broader context, this essay positions popular culture adaptations as a primary point of contact with classic literature, drawing on contemporary adaptation studies (Cutchins et. al. 2018; Leitch 2017). This approach opens new paths for readers to think about how stories move through time and respond to their historical, political, and cultural milieu. This is the case with Oppel’s series, which resituates twenty-first century trends in gothic YA fiction in the late-eighteenth-century setting that gave birth to the gothic as a malleable and highly adaptable form. As historical gothic fiction, the books invite readers to explore the challenges of adapting canonical stories for contemporary audiences that require young adult readers to navigate the dominant ideologies associated with different historical moments.
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In M. Gilbert-Hickey & M. A. Green- Barteet (Eds.) Race in YA Speculative Fiction, 2021
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Journal of Children's Literature, 2021
This article presents a critical multicultural analysis framework for examining literature for yo... more This article presents a critical multicultural analysis framework for examining literature for young people that addresses environmental and conservation topics through a lens of intersectional environmentalism. After defining intersectional environmentalism, the authors examine how this critical perspective builds on assumptions associated with posthumanism and ecofeminism. Three particular assumptions serve as the basis for questions that, taken together, compose a critical framework for examining how literary texts depict the relationship between environmental justice and social justice. The authors apply the framework to Eliot Schrefer’s novel "Endangered" to demonstrate how examining the book through a lens of intersectional environmentalism opens up new possibilities for understanding it. To conclude, the authors examine the implications for teachers of asking students to investigate literary texts from a perspective of intersectional environmentalism. In doing so, they argue that when students understand how environmental topics intersect with social justice topics, they are better prepared to appreciate the complexity of systems and social structures that support inequality and oppression, and that deem some lives more valuable than others.
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The ALAN Review, 2021
A concern with violence is central to social justice education, which aspires to prepare student... more A concern with violence is central to social justice education, which aspires to prepare students to identify and address violent conditions in their local communities. Building on scholarship on Critical Peace Theory, this article presents a framework that teachers and students can use to interrogate systemic social violence in works of young adult dystopian fiction. The authors apply the framework to Suzanne Collins’s (2008) The Hunger Games in order to demonstrate how the novel critiques personal, structural, and cultural violence. To conclude, the authors examine the implications for teachers of creating opportunities for students to interrogate literary texts through a lens of violence. In doing so, we argue that when teachers help students to name and connect different forms of violence, they support their understanding that oppressive environments are constructed, and that people are thus capable of changing them.
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Voices from the Middle, 2020
Readers are admonished not to judge a book by its cover, but is that necessarily good advice? Thi... more Readers are admonished not to judge a book by its cover, but is that necessarily good advice? This article examines a classroom activity that supports students’ attending critically to peritext—specifically, book covers. The authors identify a series of questions that teachers and students can ask to place YA texts in conversation with their peritext. Having done so, they demonstrate how a student reinterpreted the covers of a YA novel to more accurately reflect the book’s concern with celebrating diverse identities. The authors argue that when teachers ask students to attend critically to peritext, they support their understanding that, like texts, it is always ideological.
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In L. M. Nicosia & J. F. Nicosia (Eds.), Examining urban life: A resource for teachers of young adult literature (pp. 17-31), 2020
This chapter presents a conceptual framework that teachers can use to support students’ attending... more This chapter presents a conceptual framework that teachers can use to support students’ attending closely (and critically) to how cities are depicted in YA literature.
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The New Educator, 2020
This paper reports findings from a study of two beginning English teachers and the relationship b... more This paper reports findings from a study of two beginning English teachers and the relationship between their sense of agency and their respective contexts. The qualitative study followed two teachers through their first year of teaching. How the perception of agency and the role of being a teacher evolved was determined to be related to the organizational behavior and expectations that both teachers experienced in their respective contexts. This study suggests that organizational context matters in the continuing development and maintenance of agency of beginning teachers and the type of agency that teachers might develop is influenced by organizational expectations.
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In S. Hentges & S.P. Connors (Eds.), Teaching girls on fire: Essays on dystopian young adult literature in the classroom (pp.3-16). Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2020
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In S. Hentges & S.P. Connors (Eds.), Teaching girls on fire: Essays on dystopian young adult literature in the classroom (pp. 35-50). Jefferson, NC: McFarland., 2020
This chapter presents a critical framework that the authors suggest teachers can use with student... more This chapter presents a critical framework that the authors suggest teachers can use with students to support their interrogating whether YA novels engage in or resist postfeminist discourse. The authors apply the framework to Kenneth Oppel’s YA neo-Victorian novel "This Dark Endeavor", the first book in the two-volume The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series. In doing so, they demonstrate how, by depicting the character of Elizabeth Lavenza as a Historical Bad Girl, Oppel’s novel inadvertently engages in narratives associated with postfeminism despite actively trying to rewrite Elizabeth as a strong, female lead for twenty-first-century readers. To conclude, the authors examine the implications of students’ interrogating representations of Historical Bad Girls in YA literature.
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In C. Hill & V. Malo-Juvera (Eds.), Canonical Young Adult Literature: Criticism & Critique (pp. 215-229), 2019
This chapter argues that when educators position students to attend closely to the presence of cu... more This chapter argues that when educators position students to attend closely to the presence of cultural models in Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel "Persepolis," they can support their examining how the graphic novel engages in problematic discourses about Iranians and Muslims. At the same time, however, part of the genius of Satrapi’s text is that it does not simply reinforce a humanist model of essential sameness. Western readers may recognize themselves in Marji, but the text nevertheless invites them to also consider the formative role that culture plays in shaping a person’s belief system.
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Negotiating Place and Space Through Digital Literacies: Research and Practice, 2019
This chapter focuses on a community inquiry project that asks pre-service teachers to reflect on ... more This chapter focuses on a community inquiry project that asks pre-service teachers to reflect on the nature of the relationship between literacy and place, and, having done so, compose video essays that contest single stories (Adichie, 2009) about people, places, and literacy in the South.
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English Journal, 2019
This article argues for the value of preparing students to identify the presence of neoliberal id... more This article argues for the value of preparing students to identify the presence of neoliberal ideologies that amplify racial stratification by defining entire groups of people as “disposable” The authors examine a YA dystopian novel to demonstrate how the text can be interpreted as a critique of neoliberalism.
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In R. Ginsberg & W. Glenn (Eds.), Engaging Critically with Multicultural YA Literature in the Secondary Classroom: Critical Approaches for Critical Educators (pp. 32-41). New York, NY: Routledge., 2019
In emphasizing individualism and free-market economics, neoliberalism, an economic theory, assume... more In emphasizing individualism and free-market economics, neoliberalism, an economic theory, assumes that talented individuals thrive when they are freed from governmental regulations. This is premised on a second assumption: namely, that individuals compete on a level playing field and succeed as a result of their own unique talents and abilities. In this way, neoliberalism erases the role that social constructs such as race, gender, class, ability, and so on play in privileging some groups of people and oppressing others. This chapter presents a three-part framework for identifying and critiquing neoliberalism and its attendant ideologies in multicultural Young Adult fiction. Having introduced the framework and relevant questions that teachers and students can ask in the service of examining neoliberalism in multicultural Young Adult novels, the authors apply the framework to Francisco X. Stork’s Marcelo in the Real World. By examining the stance the novel takes in regard to institutions, individualism, and interdependence (as opposed to independence), the authors demonstrate how the novel resists neoliberal ideologies in favor of a more progressive, inclusive worldview.
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C. Hill & V. Malo-Juvera (Eds.), Critical Approaches to Teaching the High School Novel: Reinterpreting Canonical Literature (pp. 104-120). New York, NY: Routledge., 2019
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In S. Witte, D. Latham, & M. Gross, (Eds.), Literacy engagement through peritextual analysis (pp. 57-70 ). Chicago: ALA Editions., 2019
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Articles & Chapters by Sean Connors
points for teachers
and librarians.
In a broader context, this essay positions popular culture adaptations as a primary point of contact with classic literature, drawing on contemporary adaptation studies (Cutchins et. al. 2018; Leitch 2017). This approach opens new paths for readers to think about how stories move through time and respond to their historical, political, and cultural milieu. This is the case with Oppel’s series, which resituates twenty-first century trends in gothic YA fiction in the late-eighteenth-century setting that gave birth to the gothic as a malleable and highly adaptable form. As historical gothic fiction, the books invite readers to explore the challenges of adapting canonical stories for contemporary audiences that require young adult readers to navigate the dominant ideologies associated with different historical moments.
points for teachers
and librarians.
In a broader context, this essay positions popular culture adaptations as a primary point of contact with classic literature, drawing on contemporary adaptation studies (Cutchins et. al. 2018; Leitch 2017). This approach opens new paths for readers to think about how stories move through time and respond to their historical, political, and cultural milieu. This is the case with Oppel’s series, which resituates twenty-first century trends in gothic YA fiction in the late-eighteenth-century setting that gave birth to the gothic as a malleable and highly adaptable form. As historical gothic fiction, the books invite readers to explore the challenges of adapting canonical stories for contemporary audiences that require young adult readers to navigate the dominant ideologies associated with different historical moments.
We are interested in connecting with and collaborating with others–within and outside of academia–who share these interests. We seek to create spaces for our projects and work to be made more visible, both to ourselves and to others.
As we work together, we will address ways to:
Collaboratively document and discuss our work and our communit(ies) of practice,
Fairly represent the participants and the spaces and places implicated in our work, and
Initiate further conversations that will shape the direction of our emerging collaborative.