Using fiction for transformation

Abstract

This chapter examines how the study of popular romantic fiction was used to transform students' understandings of the ways in which gendered identities are constructed and their perception of the way textual meanings are determined.

Exploring the Transformative Power of Literature: Aesthetic Experiences in Business Education

“…Beyond the matter of identifying with literary works, the data unveiled the role of exploring art as a vehicle for a disorienting dilemma, inciting the transformative learning process. Mezirow first introduced this concept, which was later elaborated on by Jarvis (2006Jarvis ( , 2012)), indicating that this disorienting dilemma can be triggered without specific events occurring in the reader's life. The aesthetic-literary stimulus generating a dilemma, in these cases, was independent of real-life events, as exemplified by an interviewee's comment about Ivan Ilyich's impending death, which prompted reflection about life and its course: Ivan Illich... he's in bed and about to die.…”

“…The analysis of this second axis delves into the holistic experience of the participants, or the whole learner (Jarvis, 2006;Longmore et al, 2018), encompassing their emotions (affective dimension), reflections on their lives (intellective dimension), and the actions they adopted (volitional dimension). The central inquiry is whether their encounter with literature yielded changes, particularly transformative alterations in their assumptions and behaviours within the professional realm of Business School students.…”

A powerful glimpse from across the table: reflections on a virtual parenting exercise

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What is critical media literacy in an age of disinformation?

“…Finally, other adult education scholars, by focusing on CML, explore ways adult educators can engage popular culture in the classroom to critically examine issues of gender, sexuality, race, socioeconomic status, and class by analyzing how those concepts are depicted in the mass media and how those representations are assimilated into people's lives (Guy, 2007; Hanley, 2007; Harris & Jarvis, 2000; Jarvis, 2006; Lightcap, 1997; Sandlin, 2005; Stack & Kelley, 2006; Tisdell, 2007a, 2007b). Jarvis (1999), for instance, describes the transformative power of using popular romance novels in the cultural studies classroom with mature women in an Access to Higher Education program in the United Kingdom.…”