WINNIPEG, MB – The University of Winnipeg and Dr. Sandra Kirby and the Office of the Associate Vice-President (Research) and Dean of Graduate Studies presents the Trudeau Visiting Fellowship Lecturer Dr. Clare Bradford. She is speaking on Interested Fictions: What Children’s Literature Can Tell Us on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 at 12:30 – 1:30 pm at the Duckworth Centre, room 3D01 (corner of Spence and Ellice). Admission is free and everyone is welcome. A light lunch will be provided.
What Attitudes are Deemed Desirable
“Children’s literature research is a relatively new field of study,” said Claire Bradford. ”It often struggled to gain scholarly standing, despite the fact that books for children and adolescents comprise a significant proportion of published works. By examining the books provided to children in any culture, we can discern what kind of society adults propose to young readers, and what behaviours and attitudes are deemed desirable and undesirable.”
Trudeau Visiting Fellowship Prize
Dr. Clare Bradford has been awarded the first $225,000 Trudeau Visiting Fellowship Prize from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is a Visiting Professor of literary studies at The University of Winnipeg this academic term. Her innovative research examines the interplay between children’s literature and social practices, and particularly representations of Indigenous peoples and cultures in children’s books.
Creative Arts at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
Bradford is a professor in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research examines the interplay between children’s literature and the social practices it represents and advocates. She has focused especially on representations of Indigenous peoples and cultures in children’s texts, and on Indigenous textuality for children.
A second strand of her research examines how children’s literature following the end of the Cold War has engaged with political, social and environmental questions. A third collaborative project focuses on Australian children’s texts since 1990, exploring the values they promote with regard to multiculturalism, immigration and community relations.
