Knowing the subject; knowing its history: Examining key figures in English who contributed to its emancipatory nature

Abstract

This chapter examines the legacy of emancipation that influences the teaching of English in Australia today. It takes a biographical-historical approach and investigates inherited emancipatory threads, including various ideologies and practices in English teaching concerning reading, moral formation, social equality, and personal development. To do so, the chapter explores some of the ideas of Matthew Arnold, F.R. Leavis, Raymond Williams, Richard Hoggart, John Dixon, Terry Eagleton, Ian Hunter, and Bronwyn Mellor and Annette Patterson, in relation to emancipation. The chapter considers how imagined possibilities for English teaching can be shaped productively by knowing the historical narratives of emancipation. This is because understanding past emphases in English can elucidate English teaching for the purposes of equity, justice, and democracy in the present.

RAS ID

77601

Document Type

Book Chapter

Date of Publication

12-24-2024

School

School of Education

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Identifier

Trish Dowsett: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8503-7248

Comments

Jones, C., & Dowsett, T. (2024). Knowing the subject; knowing its history: Examining key figures in English who contributed to its emancipatory nature. In English Language Arts as an Emancipatory Subject (pp. 3-22). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003470052-2

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.4324/9781003470052-2