Publication:
Picture-Book Professors: Academia and Children's Literature
Picture-Book Professors: Academia and Children's Literature
No Thumbnail Available
Files
Date
2018
Authors
Melissa M. Terras
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
How is academia portrayed in children's literature? This Element ambitiously surveys fictional professors in texts marketed towards children. Professors are overwhelmingly white and male, tending to be elderly scientists who fall into three stereotypes: the vehicle to explain scientific facts, the baffled genius, and the evil madman. By the late twentieth century, the stereotype of the male, mad, muddlehead, called Professor SomethingDumb, is formed in humorous yet pejorative fashion. This Element provides a publishing history of the role of academics in children's literature, questioning the book culture which promotes the enforcement of stereotypes regarding intellectual expertise in children's media.
Description
Publisher: Cambridge University Press ; License: CC BY-NC-ND ; Source: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108529501 ; pages
Keywords
Children’s Literature,
Academia,
English Literature,
Gender Studies,
Diversity,
Representation