Van Vaerenewyck

Pedagogy of World Literature: Reconnecting with the Aesthetic

Leah M. Van Vaerenewyck, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Abstract:

This paper offers a rationale for diversifying literary curricula in the United States (and elsewhere) based on emerging neuroscientific research that reveals the potential of literary narratives to transform social behaviors and attitudes towards the Other. Implications and suggestions for instructional practice include a call to un-privilege the efferent stance in education and find ways to validate the aesthetic experience and response in the classroom.

Key words: Literary narratives; transactional theory; embodied simulation; narrative imagination; ethnocentrism