Creating New Meanings and Understanding with Postcolonial Texts: Teaching Purple Hibiscus in a Grade 10 Classroom

Authors

  • Kevin McBean Edmonton Public Schools
  • Ingrid Johnston University of Alberta

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29441

Abstract

This article invites readers to share the experiences of a teacher and his Grade 10 students as they read and discussed Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Nigerian novel Purple Hibiscus. The novel was selected as part of a national action research study in which literacy researchers and teachers select postcolonial literature for the classroom and develop new pedagogical strategies for teaching the texts. The article suggests that contemporary international novels such as Purple Hibiscus have potential to raise complex questions of social justice in the classroom and to create new understandings of a changing world.

Author Biographies

Kevin McBean, Edmonton Public Schools

Kevin McBean is a graduate student in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. He teaches High School English Language Arts in Edmonton.

Ingrid Johnston, University of Alberta

Ingrid Johnston is Professor Emerita in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. Her latest book, Challenging Stories: Canadian Literature for Social Justice in the Classroom (2017), co-edited with Anne Burke and Angela Ward, is published by Canadian Scholars Press.

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Published

2019-01-07

How to Cite

McBean, K., & Johnston, I. (2019). Creating New Meanings and Understanding with Postcolonial Texts: Teaching Purple Hibiscus in a Grade 10 Classroom. Language and Literacy, 20(4), 78–92. https://doi.org/10.20360/langandlit29441

Issue

Vol. 20 No. 4 (2018): Ordinary Literacies in Extraordinary Times: Creating Meaning Through Bodies, Texts, and Objects

Section

Articles

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