This project examines fiction book clubs in grades 4-7. The aim of the book clubs was to get as many students as possible to be so-called âbookwormsâ. The project describes the didactic dilemmas that arise in attempts to have a deeper discussion about the books. The students related what they had read to whether it felt or seemed ârealâ, or by citing facts or telling of their own experiences. Another part of the project shows how gender was constructed in the book discussions: the literary figures were discussed in both stereotypical and non-stereotypical ways. The project also addresses how otherness is created in the discussions by highlighting differences and building a number of implicit and explicit contrasts between âthemâ and âusâ. Finally, the project shows how the identities the avid readers as well as the struggling readers were created in the discussions, and that the students were positioned along two continuums: willing or unwilling reader, as well as fast or slow reader. An important finding was that being a fast reader did not always coincide with being a lover of books.
Publications
Eriksson Barajas, K. (2012). Boksamtalets dilemman och möjligheter. Stockholm: Liber.
Eriksson Barajas, K., & Aronsson, K. (2009). . Language & Literature, 18(3), 281â299.
Eriksson Barajas, K. (2009). I A. Sparrman, J. Cromdal, A. Evaldsson & V. AdelsvÀrd (Red.), Den vÀsentliga vardagen: NÄgra diskursanalytiska perspektiv pÄ tal, text och bild (pp. 131-147). Stockholm: Carlssons.
Eriksson Barajas, K. (2008). Ethnography and Education, 3(2), 129â144.
Eriksson, K., & Aronsson, K. (2005). â Discourse & Society, 16(5), 719â738.
Eriksson, K., & Aronsson, K. (2004). Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 48(5), 511â528.
Eriksson, K. (2002). Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 46(4), 391â408.
Eriksson, Katarina (2002b) (Diss.). (Linköping studies in arts and science, no. 251). Linköping: Linköpings universitet