250380 “Why Read?” – Canadian, Indigenous, and Global Perspectives on Histories and Futures of Literacy, Literature Education, & Schooling (BS) (WiSe 2026/2027)

This Bachelor’s seminar offers a comprehensive and comparative global exploration of histories, contexts, and complexities of literacy and literature education, principally focused on the long-posed question of “why read”? We will explore critical debates regarding socio-political roles of literacy and literary engagement, extending from Plato’s time to the present day. Following this initial historical exploration, we will subsequently attend to histories, cultures, and curricula of literacy and literature education within a Canadian school context, with a specific focus on practices of inclusion and exclusion. Here, attention will be given to different perspectives on what has counted as an “educated imagination.” With reference to the cultural genocide of Indigenous peoples and Canada’s residential school system, we will examine how language arts education has served as a vehicle of colonial violence and oppression, and can also serve as a generative means for societal transformation and decolonization. To deepen our understanding, we will engage with poetry, short stories, and novels written by Indigenous authors in Canada. For example, we will read excerpts from Cherie Dimaline’s speculative fiction The Marrow Thieves in order to discuss haunting connections among memory, dreams, language, and schooling. By integrating histories of literacy and language arts, this seminar uncovers ways in which stories shape – and are shaped by – educational ideologies and institutions.

This course maintains a global perspective, in recognition that Canada’s history is part of a broader narrative of modern schooling. As such, students will be encouraged to draw upon these international insights as a means to reflect upon their own responses to questions of “why read” with respect to their own educational journeys within German cultural and literary contexts, and within the German school system. This comparative approach turns histories of personal schooling into a subject of critical academic exchange and envisioning. Ultimately, students will develop a nuanced understanding of how different historical and sociocultural pedagogical frameworks can marginalize or empower diverse student populations, which can be recognized as fundamentally important for future education.

Moreover, exploring questions regarding the role of literacy and literature education through historical and cultural lenses is vital in current times when reading and writing capacities are being challenged globally, and when literacy competencies are increasingly encountering artificial intelligence. The course ends with a contemplation of our global educational futures. Join the course to bridge the gap between historical analysis, literary imagination, and your future practice in the classroom!

Please note that Prof. Dr. Claudia Eppert’s stay at Bielefeld University is mainly financed by the International Guest Lecturer Program and in parts by the Faculty of Educational Science.

In dieser Veranstaltung findet ein Platzvergabeverfahren statt. Bitte informieren Sie sich hier über den Ablauf: https://www.uni-bielefeld.de/fakultaeten/erziehungswissenschaft/studium-und-lehre/studiendekanat/studienorganisation/platzvergabe/