Didaktiseringsprocessen

Litteraturvetenskapens behov av litteraturdidaktik och litteraturdidaktikens beroende av litteraturteori

Abstract

The Subject Pedagogical Process: The Interdependence of Literary Theory and Subject Pedagogy in Comparative Literature.

This article examines and discusses how the conception of literary pedagogical content knowledge, and pedagogy of literature have changed and shifted in Sweden over the last few decades. I also try to indicate some possible future directions for a continuous “subject pedagogical process” for the discipline of Comparative Literature. All over the (Western) world, the need to develop the educational field of what is, after Lee S. Shulman, labelled pedagogical content knowledge is becoming an increasingly urgent concern. In this developing process I, after Sigmund Ongstad, propose as a working definition: pedagogical content knowledge deals with the identity of the university subject in question, with its role in society and with the act of communicating it on different levels and in different situations – for example in educational contexts and in mass media. I argue that, as educators and trainers of teachers-to-be, and as scholars of the discipline of Comparative Literature, we need to develop the field of literary pedagogical content knowledge in an active and conscious way. The development of pedagogical content knowledge must be conducted by the discipline itself and not by the discipline of educational studies. To develop pedagogical content knowledge is to continuously remould the discipline in question to secure the utmost relevance for individuals as well as for society. To engage in the activity of pedagogical content knowledge is to be conscious of the fact that no subject is eternally-given and self-evident. When you engage in reflections on the meaning and relevance of a university and school discipline you are engaging in questions of pedagogical content knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge is akin to and dependent on subject theory. It should comprise a continuous and conscious meta-reflection upon the subject in question and upon its material, in relationship to society and to human beings. To engage in the developing of pedagogical content knowledge is to take on responsibility for the subject’s content and for its communication in an ever changing society.