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Re: Narrative and Information
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From: smithhemb_at_aol.com
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:11:42 -0400 (EDT)
As I lapsed academic, I thought Phillip Hoose's book on Claudette Colvin wa s an excellent demonstration of how YA Nonfiction as a genre could be used to create a niche for scholarship that doesn't fit neatly within the types of publication (e.g. peer-reviewed journal articles, university press books ) that count toward tenure.? I've been interested in Colvin for years, but she's generally relegated to a paragraph (if she gets more than a footnote) in academic accounts of the Civil Rights movement.? And I can think of a n umber of other people (often women) whose lives are consigned to the same m argins.
There's original research to be done that merits a broader audience and a m ore robust and engaging presentation than the professoriate is likely to pr oduce.? Short books written for a relatively sophisticated YA audience woul d seem to me to have crossover potential for the adult non-fiction market, if properly marketed.? More importantly, at least from my point of view, su ch books have the advantage of populating the imaginations of future schola rs with a broader and more diverse set of characters.? Which, in turn, chan ges the types of questions they're like to ask and to want to answer.?
Sue Hemberger
Received on Thu 15 Mar 2012 06:11:42 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:11:42 -0400 (EDT)
As I lapsed academic, I thought Phillip Hoose's book on Claudette Colvin wa s an excellent demonstration of how YA Nonfiction as a genre could be used to create a niche for scholarship that doesn't fit neatly within the types of publication (e.g. peer-reviewed journal articles, university press books ) that count toward tenure.? I've been interested in Colvin for years, but she's generally relegated to a paragraph (if she gets more than a footnote) in academic accounts of the Civil Rights movement.? And I can think of a n umber of other people (often women) whose lives are consigned to the same m argins.
There's original research to be done that merits a broader audience and a m ore robust and engaging presentation than the professoriate is likely to pr oduce.? Short books written for a relatively sophisticated YA audience woul d seem to me to have crossover potential for the adult non-fiction market, if properly marketed.? More importantly, at least from my point of view, su ch books have the advantage of populating the imaginations of future schola rs with a broader and more diverse set of characters.? Which, in turn, chan ges the types of questions they're like to ask and to want to answer.?
Sue Hemberger
Received on Thu 15 Mar 2012 06:11:42 PM CDT
