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Eastern Michigan University

Reading queer subtexts in children’s literature

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

<p>The purpose of this project is to explore and to challenge heteronormative assumptions regarding childhood and adolescence. I will show how these assumptions affect the literature published and made available to young readers, and how, often, overtly queer texts are not available for young readers. Such omissions leave young readers, especially those with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgendered (LGBT) identities, to find depictions of queerness in subtexts underlying seemingly “straight” texts. While these queer subtexts can be recognizable to readers through the use of culturally and historically significant markers that are understood to represent queerness, even a text with a widely recognized queer subtext does not preclude straight readings. Similarly, a queer subtext can exist solely for a reader with no intentional work done on the part of the creators. Queer subtexts, ultimately, work in subtle ways to subvert heteronormative assumptions and, in the process, create recognizable representations of queerness.</p>

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (MA)
Level thesis:degree_level
Open Access Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
English Language and Literature
Year dc:date.available
2011

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Kander, Jessica
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Annette Wannamaker, PhD. Chair
  • Amanda Allen, PhD

Subjects

dc:subject × 6

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://commons.emich.edu/theses/328
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-1328

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Eastern Michigan University
Base URL
commons.emich.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Kander, Jessica. Reading queer subtexts in children’s literature. Open Access Thesis thesis, 2011. https://commons.emich.edu/theses/328