Teaching Social Justice using Postcolonial Texts

This book explores how teachers can re-examine their emotional investments in enacting dominant settler values through changing their text selection and teaching practices. Based on a longitudinal qualitative research study conducted by a national team of literacy scholars in collaboration with practicing literacy teachers at eight sites across Canada, the book investigates how groups of teachers, working collaboratively in inquiry groups, develop and implement curriculum to promote their own and their students’ understandings of social justice in postcolonial and settler spaces. In particular, the book highlights the rich and dynamic landscape of postcolonial authors, illustrators and texts, the development of culturally- sensitive curricula, and critical pedagogies possible in addressing contemporary and historical issues, both local and global.

This book is primarily of interest to literacy scholars, literacy instructors (teacher educators) in teacher education programs, educational leaders, practicing teachers from the K-12 spectrum, and school district staff and policy makers with responsibilities for or interests in the potential of literacy and literature engagement for social justice education. The book is also be of interest to postsecondary educators and teacher educators wishing to use literature in social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive courses.

Geraldine Balzer is an Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies in the College of Education at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research focuses on decolonization and social justice. She is a co-editor of Teaching Global Citizenship: Challenges and Opportunities in the 21^st Century and Truth Perceived: Perspectives through Canadian Nonfiction.  Her articles have been published in The Canadian Journal of Education, Metropolitan Journal of Service Learning, Engaged Scholar, The Conrad Grebel Review, and the Canadian Journal of Native Education. 

Teresa Strong-Wilson is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at McGill University and editor-in-chief of the McGill Journal of Education. Interested in curriculum, early childhood, literacy/ies, memory, stories, teachers, trauma and social justice education, she has published several books and articles, alone and with others. Her books include Bringing Memory Forward: Storied Remembrance in Social Justice Education with Teachers (Peter Lang, 2008); Envisioning New Technologies in Teacher Practice (Peter Lang, 2012); Productive Remembering and Social Agency (Sense, 2013); The Emperor’s New Clothes?: Issues and Alternatives in Uses of the Portfolio in Teacher Education Programs (Peter Lang, 2014); Provoking Curriculum Encounters (Routledge, 2020) and most recently, Teachers’ Ethical Self-Encounters with Counter-stories in the Classroom: From Implicated to Concerned Subjects (Routledge, 2021).

 Anne Burke is Professor in Literacy Education at Memorial University where she teaches courses in children’s literature, literacy education,social justice  and digital media. Anne’s research is focused in issues of social justice and advocacy using digital and social media platforms. In her research she has partnered with the Pratt and McCain Foundation, the Boys and Girls Club, and various Canadian school boards. Book titles include Challenging Stories: Teachers working for Social Justice in Canadian Classrooms (Canadian Scholar’s Press, 2017),  Invitations to Play ( Pembroke, 2019)Children’s Play Worlds: Culture, Learning and Participation with Jackie Marsh (Peter Lang New York,2013), Play to Learn (Pembroke Canada,2011), Digital Principal with Janette Hughes (Stenhouse US,2014), Assessing New Literacies: Perspectives from the Classroom with Roberta Hammett (Peter Lang,2009).