Ingrid Johnston has published a new book, co-authored by Jyoti Mangat, titled Reading Practices, Postcolonial Literature, and Cultural Mediation in the Classroom, (Sense Publishers, 2012).

In their book, they consider ways in which particular postcolonial and multicultural literary texts are able to provide a space of cultural mediation for readers from various backgrounds. The five studies described in the book explore the spaces of convergence of identity, culture and literature with students and teachers in high school contexts and undergraduates in university settings. In each study, readers are responding to texts that are culturally distant from their own literary and experiential histories. An objective of each study was to consider the nature of the cultural locations of the reader and the text, and the interstitial spaces between these locations.

Dr Ingrid Johnston is a professor in the Department of Secondary Education with specializations in English Language Arts Education and Curriculum Studies, Postcolonial Literary Theories and Practice, and Diversity Issues in Teacher Education, Her research program over the past years has focused on postcolonial literary studies and their potential for curriculum development; multicultural literary education with a focus on children’s and young adult literature; questions of culture, migration and teacher education. She has presented her research internationally in South Africa, Japan, China, Pakistan, Ireland, England, Norway, Germany, Australia and the US. Many of major themes of her ongoing research program are reflected in the collaborative research studies in this new book.

Jyoti Mangat, a former doctoral student in the Department of Secondary Education, is now Assistant Principal and International Baccalaureate Diploma Coordinator at Bellerose Composite High School in St Albert. Jyoti moved to Canada from India as a child and her research interests have focused on the implications of postcolonial literary studies for high school English curricula. Ingrid and Jyoti has worked together for several years on developing studies that reflect their interests in reading practices in schools and university teacher education programs.