Record Details

Exposure to queer characters in Konigsberg’s Openly Straight through social messaging

Literator

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Exposure to queer characters in Konigsberg’s Openly Straight through social messaging
 
Creator Uys, Matthys J. Romylos, Salomé Nel, Carisma
 
Subject — critical literacy; social messaging; language classroom; classroom discourse; queer individuals; openly straight; Bill Konigsberg
Description Research conducted by The Other Foundation has indicated that South Africans view the lives of queer individuals as lifestyle choice (34%), illness (12%), sin (5.10%), results of these individuals’ upbringing (3.80%) and/or resulting from the influence of ancestral spirits (3.70%). Advocacy and information about sexual orientation and sexual diversity through literary as characters may be instrumental in possibly changing negative perceptions of queer individuals. This article aims to show how a selected young adult queer novel, and the social messaging that emerges from the text, may be a potentially influential location for creating an awareness and better understanding of queer individuals. The aim of the investigation on which the article is based was to examine the possibility or viability of implementing critical literacy in secondary education systems in the language classroom as an opportunity to address social issues in heteronormative environments. The social messages found in queer texts may be used as entry points to fruitful discourse in language classroom environments. The study followed a qualitative approach with the use of critical hermeneutics as a strategy of inquiry and social constructivism as philosophical worldview. The queer text utilised was Openly Straight (2013) by Bill Konigsberg with the method of data generation being document analysis. The main findings were that queer texts should form part of the language classroom (as learners may read these texts critically and emphatically) and that Bill Konigsberg’s Openly Straight contained social messages that can contribute to positive influences on queer- and heterosexual readers.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Prof J.L. van der Walt – Article Writing Assistance, North-West University, Faculty of Education Sciences, Research and Innovation, Article Writing Assistance
Date 2021-08-27
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/lit.v42i1.1801
 
Source Literator; Vol 42, No 1 (2021); 9 pages Literator; Vol 42, No 1 (2021); 9 pages 2219-8237 0258-2279
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/000000 https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1801/3502 https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1801/3503 https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1801/3504 https://literator.org.za/index.php/literator/article/view/1801/3505
 
Coverage South Africa 21st Century —
Rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Copyright (c) 2021 Matthys J. Uys, Salomé Romylos, Carisma Nel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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