Reading, Reflection, and Resilience in the Study of Australian Literature

Reading, Reflection, and Resilience in the Study of Australian Literature

This article explores supportive learning practices and related complexities in a first-year Australian literature course anecdotally reported to be challenging in content because it requires the study of several traumatic narratives as well as texts that directly contradict accepted discourses of Australian history and culture. The article analyses the role of critical reflection in developing students’ skills in reading resilience, with a focus on responding to trauma and the complex entanglements of language, power, and identity. In doing so, we offer an understanding of how critical reflection can constitute a useful response to reading triggering texts, particularly when affective response is bound up with pre-existing ideas about collective identity in a post/neo-colonial context. Thematic analysis revealed the presence of three core themes patterned across the data: confrontation and discomfort, relatability and familiarity, and perseverance versus abandonment. Our work expands literary studies pedagogy by contributing valuable insights into students’ affective responses to reading challenging texts, the relationship between discomfort, relatability, and engagement in the literary studies classroom, and the independent development of strategies for reading stamina.

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