Literacy Colloquy:Kathy G. Short- The Dangerous of Reading Globally

Global literature offers the potential of opening children’s and teachers’ minds to multiple ways of living in the world and to intercultural understanding. Asking readers to read outside their comfort zones, however, can instead hold danger and perpetuate stereotypes and misunderstandings. We can address these dangers through acting on our social responsibilities as bookmakers, readers, and educators to balance individual voice with group responsibility and to determine if our actions could cause harm to readers’ understandings of a culture. Recognizing these dangers is essential if we are to realize the possibilities.

Dr. Kathy G. Short is a professor and endowed chair in the College of Education at the University of Arizona with a focus on inquiry, dialogue, and global literature for children and adolescents. She is Director of Worlds of Words, a center on global literacies and literatures (wowlit.org). Her most recent edited books include Teaching Globally: Reading the World through Literature, Critical Content Analysis of Children’s and Young Adult Literature, and Critical Content Analysis of Visual Images in Books for Young People. She is a past President of NCTE and USBBY.

Link to flyer for the presentation: KathyShort_LiteracyColloquy_March26,2019

Linke to video of the presentation: https://mediaspace.msu.edu/media/t/1_dcu65dcc