Exploring The Core Concepts
How Can I Use These Articles To Help Me?
Each one of these articles discusses a particular text or a set of texts; thus, they shed a light on the different ways in which texts impact in society at a given time or over a period of time. As you read these articles, don't use them as a resource to better understand the texts being discussed, rather use them to understand the different roles that texts play in the world, and the different ways in which people receive texts.
Click each image to access the article, and use the focus questions to help keep your thinking on track.
The Lady Gaga Song That Previewed a Decade of Culture Wars
Focus Question
Does the article suggest that there is an optimal scope for representation in a given text or BoW?
Tom Wolfe was criticized for wanting to put the whole world in a novel. How do his critics echo or digress from the views of some of Lady Gaga's critics?
According to this article, what's the difference between sloganeering and personal testimony?
What global issues does this article relate to?
Story of heroin addiction in 1970s West Berlin gets modern remake
Focus Question
What did the author of the article mean by filmic treatment?
How did the director of the original movie represent the life of Christine F. and the West Berlin in the 1970s?
How are the creative visions of the original filmmakers and those of the new TV series different?
What point was Die Tageszeitung trying to make?
What does it mean if a text is necessary for one generation but not for another?
The Magazine That Helped 1920s Kids Navigate Racism
Focus Question
- How did The Brownies Book seek to represent young African American children in ways that wasn't typical in media at the time?
- What does the article suggest W. E. B. Du Bois believed about the relationship between identity and culture?
- Why was representing successful Black people in The Brownies significant?
(Consider what Jonda McNair and Pochaontas Foster said about the topic.)- What global issues does this article relate to?
Dr. Seuss Books Are Pulled, and a ‘Cancel Culture’ Controversy Erupts
Focus Question
What different perspectives on withdrawing books from publication does this article offer?
What does this article demonstrate about the transformation of meaning of a text over time?
What problems are there with representation in children’s literature according to the article?
