Terese Kerstinsdotter

About Terese Kerstinsdotter

I am a doctoral student in comparative literature and am part of the research school Culturally Empowering Education through Language and Literature: https://ju.se/center/cueed-ll/om-cueed-ll.html. My dissertation work crosses the fields of literature instruction and controversial/sensitive issues in teaching with a particular focus on race, ethnicity and racism. I investigate what considerations pre-service teachers make and what positionings and tensions arise when they discuss teaching-oriented readings of fiction that touch on potentially sensitive issues.

These are questions with global relevance and for a broader perspective, literary instruction courses in teacher education programs in both South Africa and Sweden are included in the study. One aim of my dissertation, as well as the research school I belong to, is to develop Swedish teacher education and teaching that acknowledges, makes visible and takes advantage of students' different backgrounds and experiences.

My supervisors are Professor Anna Nordenstam (University of Gothenburg) and Lecturer Ana Ferreira (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg).

My interest in literature teaching and how to handle sensitive issues arose during my fifteen years as a high school teacher in Swedish and English. I now teach courses in literature studies and teach in the Teacher Education Programme (with a subject specialization in Swedish)