Approaching Classical Japanese Haiku Poetry through the Perspective of Ink Painting Art and Application to Teaching Foreign Literature for Literature Pedagogy Students at Dong Thap University

Exploring the culture and literature of countries around the world is increasingly important in the current trend of international exchange and integration. Therefore, foreign literature disciplines, including Japanese literature, occupies an increasingly essential position in the curriculum of Dong Thap University. However, the perception and teaching of Japanese Haiku poems have long been challenged due to language barriers as well as cultural differences. In order for enhancing the quality of teaching Haiku poetry to Literature Pedagogy majors at Dong Thap University, the article presents a new approach towards classical Haiku poetry through the perspective of ink painting art (aka painting art). With the aim of observing the beauty of Japanese literature and culture, the study analyzes the causes and some specific manifestations of the similarities between Japanese ink painting art and classical Haiku poetry in terms of artistic methods. The root cause lies in the influence of Zen, as a cultural characteristic of the Japanese spirit, and the specific manifestations include the technique of empty spaces in ink painting art, and the empty poetic strategy in classical Haiku poetry, the features of the conception scenery and the moment characteristic in both Oriental art genres.

Approaching classical Japanese Haiku poetry through the perspective of ink painting art and application to teaching foreign literature for Literature Pedagogy students at Dong Thap University

Exploring the culture and literature of countries around the world is increasingly important in the current trend of international exchange and integration. Therefore, foreign literature disciplines, including Japanese literature, occupies an increasingly essential position in the curriculum of Dong Thap University. However, the perception and teaching of Japanese Haiku poems have long been challenged due to language barriers as well as cultural differences. In order for enhancing the quality of teaching Haiku poetry to Literature Pedagogy majors at Dong Thap University, the article presents a new approach towards classical Haiku poetry through the perspective of ink painting art (aka painting art). With the aim of observing the beauty of Japanese literature and culture, the study analyzes the causes and some specific manifestations of the similarities between Japanese ink painting art and classical Haiku poetry in terms of artistic methods. The root cause lies in the influence of Zen, as a cultural characteristic of the Japanese spirit, and the specific manifestations include the technique of empty spaces in ink painting art, and the empty poetic strategy in classical Haiku poetry, the features of the conception scenery and the moment characteristic in both Oriental art genres.

The Transhumanist Creep

This contribution takes one of posthumanism’s most powerful conceptual distinctions – between posthumanist thought and its ill-famed doppelgaenger, transhumanism – as the starting point for a critique of posthumanist thinking in education. Pointing to moments in which both post- and transhumanism become harder to distinguish in educational theory and practice, it utilises the notion of the ‘creep phenomenon’ to describe how these seemingly opposite concepts and ways of thinking can become uncomfortably entangled in everyday practices of teaching and of marketing posthumanism. It thus makes a case for the need for empirical thick descriptions of practices in which theoretical posthumanist thought finds application and points to the unsought intersection and overlap between post- and transhumanist thought. Drawing on work on the cognitive and affective impact of literature, it suggests that literature pedagogy is one of the places where such convergences are explicitly reflected and that literature pedagogy as a form of applied literary and cultural studies provides helpful provocations and potential ameliorations of a prevalent practice-blindness in the field.

Introduction to Special Issue on Literature Pedagogy Confronting Colonialism

Postcolonial literary scholars often write about challenging traditional canons and Enlightenment ideas, but that challenge too often remains at the level of content and of ideas. We also need practical change to the university classroom, our curriculum, our syllabi, our pedagogy. And we need to be in dialogue with our colleagues teaching British or American or European literature who also want to decolonize their classrooms. There need to be fora where we can discuss the questions and problems we face in our classrooms and the strategies we have developed in response. These papers arise from an ongoing collaboration across institutions to discuss what we as teachers of literature can do differently and better.

“Give Books a Chance, Even the Really Weird and Bizarre Ones”

This article uses a contemporary literature class titled Alternatives to Realism that the author taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the basis to argue for the special value of experimental, speculative, and otherwise antirealistic literature for introductory-level undergraduate literature pedagogy. The author argues that, rather than choosing realistic narratives that students are likely to understand and relate to on first pass, professors should deliberately seek out works students are likely to initially find confusing or strange and then endeavor to help them understand those texts. The article suggests that the difficulty associated with such texts, rather than intimidating students, actually invites them to engage with the reading process more actively and enthusiastically. The article discusses the premise and overall structure of the class and the rationale behind it; delves into specific examples of discussions and assignments based on such texts as Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves and Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow; and examines students’ own ultimate responses to the class as presented in their final exam reflection essays. Ultimately, the author argues that teaching (seemingly) difficult, idiosyncratic literary works helps students appreciate the unique intellectual work of reading, strengthens their self-confidence, and leads them to a keener appreciation of the humanities more broadly.

La interculturalidad presente en la literatura infantil: un aporte a la pedagogía

Resumen En el siguiente artículo presentamos, un acercamiento al concepto de interculturalidad en diálogo y reciprocidad con la literatura infantil. El objetivo general es trazar algunas líneas de orientación que nos ayudan a precisar el origen de la literatura dirigida a los niños y, finalizamos refiriendo el aporte pedagógico que desde la interculturalidad promueve el sincretismo de lo histórico, lo folclórico y lo oral. En cuanto a la metodología utilizamos la hermenéutica como camino expedito de interpretación, reflexión y análisis y, como conclusión proponemos que el valor artístico de la literatura, permite visualizar nuestro patrimonio cultural y el de toda la humanidad, ninguna sociedad escapa a la influencia de las diferentes culturas y esa esa es justamente la hibridez que encarna la literatura infantil. Palabras clave: Interculturalidad, Literatura infantil, Pedagogía, Diálogo de saberes. Abstract In the following article we present an approach to the concept of interculturality in dialogue and reciprocity with children’s literature. The general objective is to draw some lines of orientation that help us pinpoint the origin of literature aimed at children and, finally, referring to the pedagogical contribution that interculturality promotes the syncretism of the historical, folkloric and oral. In terms of methodology, we use hermeneutics as an expeditious way of interpretation, reflection and analysis and, as a conclusion, we propose that the artistic value of literature allows us to visualize our cultural heritage and that of all humanity, no society escapes the influence of different cultures and that is precisely the hybridity that embodies children’s literature. Keyworks: Interculturalism, Children’s literature, Pedagogy, Knowledge dialogue