Reading the World: Challenging Cultural Insideness in Swedish Upper Secondary Literature Education

Abstract

This study sets out to challenge politically motivated reinforced insideness of Swedish upper secondary L1 literature education. It does so by highlighting transformative aims presented in the curriculum and introducing transnational literature to L1 students. Theoretically categories of insideness (Relph, 2016) and the pedagogical idea of transformative learning (Mezirow, 1994; 2003; 2006) are used to analyse the material, which consists of 28 student reflections on transformative phrasing used in the curriculum and on two transnational short stories. Methodologically the study is based on participatory research which is concretised through a focus group interview with school librarians. The interview was part of  preparing for the intervention in the students’ L1 classroom. The material was thematically analysed (see Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2019) using the categories of vicarious, empathetic, and existential insideness (Relph, 2016).

The results show how students’ insideness is revealed and challenged by the use of transnational literature. Literature which challenge the students’ expectations and frames of reference can add to a more multiperspectivist understanding of the world. However, for this transformation to occur it is necessary for the reader to recognize aspects of oneself in the literary work. Moreover, scaffolding teaching practices including subject-specific language, such as the conceptual apparatus of cultural insideness, are crucial to support transnational reading as a transformative learning practice. L1 literature education can become a window to the world, but only if it includes aspects of recognition. To know a there you have to know a here and vice versa.

Key words: Cultural insideness, Transnational literature, Multi-perspectivism, Transformative learning, Participatory research.