Investigating Identities in Young Adult (YA) Narratives: Symposium on the 13/12/2017 at The University of Northampton UK
deadline for submissions:
October 8, 2017
full name / name of organization:
The University of Northampton UK
contact email:
anthony.stepniak2@northampton.ac.uk
Investigating Identities in Young Adult (YA) Narratives
Symposium on the 13/12/2017 at The University of Northampton UK
From JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, Young Adult (YA) narratives have grown exponentially over the past twenty years. Adopting a range of genres and platforms including the Bildungsroman and the coming of age teen drama, YA narratives represent a significant cultural means to explore the formation of identity in all its varied aspects. This one day symposium at the University of Northampton will investigate the representation of identity constructions in relation to narrative form in YA narratives both past and present.
Suggested topics may include, but are no means limited to:
– Representations of racial/ethnic identity in YA narratives
– Representations of gender and/or sexual identity in YA narratives
– The representation of identity in YA narratives in relation to the notion of class
– Interrogations of YA narrative’s treatment of LGBTQIA+ identities
– The effect of trauma on identity in YA narratives
– YA narratives and the notion of the outsider or other
– The relationship between genre and the notion of identity in YA narratives
– The representation of non-binary identities in YA narratives
– The transition from childhood to adulthood in classic (children’s) literature
– The representation of disability in relation to the notion of identity in YA narratives
– The use and function of supernatural identities in YA narratives
Being an interdisciplinary symposium focused on narrative, papers from across the subject areas of literature, screen studies, history, popular culture and education studies are invited. The symposium welcomes papers on both YA literature and screen adaptations, and from scholars working on earlier periods as well as contemporary culture.
The symposium invites papers from academics, early career researchers and postgraduate research students alike.
Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be sent to both sonya.andermahr@northampton.ac.uk and anthony.stepniak2@northampton.ac.uk by the 8th October 2017.