KaaVonia Hinton

Call for Chapters:

Teaching Black American Speculative Fiction: Equity, Justice, and Antiracism

Edited by: KaaVonia Hinton, Old Dominion University, and Karen Chandler, University of Louisville

This book will be published by Routledge.

We are pleased to announce we are accepting abstracts for chapters for our book, Teaching Black American Speculative Fiction: Equity, Justice, and Antiracism. This collection will be published by Routledge, and it is based on our popular 2021 NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Assembly on American Literature (AAL) session, which focused on Black American speculative fiction and issues of social justice. This collection will focus on equity, justice, and antiracism within different genres/modes of speculative fiction (e.g., science fiction, fantasy, horror). Each chapter will apply a theoretical lens or critical approach to a text and describe ways in which the text can be used to motivate middle and high school students to think, talk, and write about texts and issues of equity, justice, and antiracism. Specifically, chapters will offer lesson ideas/learning activities aligned with the new NCTE standards for teaching English language arts, particularly the standards’ focus on instruction that supports antiracism and antibias (ABAR) instruction.

Chapter Outline

Each chapter (3,500 to 4,000 words, double spaced) will feature a/an:

Introduction– Briefly introducing the focal text and author

Rationale- Explaining the reason for teaching the text in middle/high school, including how it is ripe for discussion about equity, justice, and/or antiracism

Theoretical lens or critical approach- Discussing how the theoretical lens or critical approach lends itself to exploring equity, justice, and/or antiracism and elucidating the text and how the approach is beneficial to middle/high school students

Applying the lens- Grounding the theoretical lens or critical approach in teaching the focal text; offering essential questions to explore

Assignments/Lessons- Offering strategies that help students read the text through a theoretical lens or critical approach

Connections- Sharing ideas about how to use the theoretical lens or critical approach more generally with Black speculative film, other books, short stories, music, current or historical events, and so on.

Assessment- Suggesting ideas for assessing/evaluating activities, lessons, strategies, or suggested pedagogical approaches

A partial list of relevant authors is provided below. Please send a brief (200-300 word) abstract describing the focus of your chapter and a 50-word bio, including your current academic affiliation, to khintonj@odu.edu & karen.chandler@louisville.edu by January 15, 2023. Please follow the APA Publication Manual, 7th Edition.

Timeline: