Children and Young People's Text and Media

The course evolves around the digital and analogue media children and young people use. The course focuses on the interaction between different media and texts: Their form and content, their affordances, and the role they play in the everyday lives and institutional contexts of children and young people.

For instance, we will examine the interaction between analogue and digital texts (books and apps), young people’s use of social media, and children as users and producers of text, e.g. via YouTube. Furthermore, we will discuss different kinds of transmedia practices and adaptations. Examples of texts could be the TV-series Skam, canonical literature such as Alice in Wonderland, or contemporary narratives such as A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

Concepts, theories, and methods included in the course derive primarily from literary studies and media studies. These will be applied in analyses of texts and media for children and young people in relation to institutional, commercial, aesthetic and educational contexts.

The course addresses students from a variety of fields, including comparative literature, media studies, and education. Students from outside the university are also welcome: Previously, publishers, librarians, and teachers at teacher training colleges have been part of the group of students. Interdisciplinary approaches and activities will be at the core of the course, during which your teachers will show how interdisciplinary cooperation works in practice. The course will conclude in a seminar arranged by the students.