Hoiem to present research at ChLA 2017

Elizabeth Hoiem
Elizabeth Hoiem, Associate Professor

Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hoiem will present her research on the representation of slavery in children's nonfiction books at the Children's Literature Association conference (ChLA 2017), which will be held on June 22-24 in Tampa, Florida. The theme of the conference, "Imagined Futures," explores the many possible futures to be found in, through, and for children's literature.

Hoiem will give the talk, "The Politics of How Things Are Made: Representations of Slavery and Violence in Children’s Histories of Technology," during a session titled, "Borders and Frontiers: Explorations of the Past." According to Hoiem, production stories—a genre that includes Amelia Alderson Opie's abolitionist chapbook, The Progress of Sugar (1826); David Macaulay's Cathedral (1973); Laban Carrick Hill and Bryan Collier's Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave (2010); and Discovery Channel’s How It's Made—have always been deeply political. 

"My paper analyzes examples of children's production narratives from 1750 to the present, showing how books in this genre can idealize industrial standardization in order to elide ethical questions posed by labor conditions or celebrate technological progress at the expense of human actors. Ignoring slavery or social inequality is not inherent to the genre. Rather, the formal elements of production narratives require writers and illustrators to make inherently political choices about whether to include, alongside a technological narrative, the social narrative of who makes things, under what conditions, and for whom," she said.

Hoiem teaches in the areas of reading and literacy, history of children's literature, and fantasy literature. In her research and teaching, she explores the history of technological innovations in children's literature—from early children's books and toys to contemporary applications of digital pedagogy—and looks at modern technology through a historical lens. Her research interests also include digital humanities. This paper evolved from her current book project on the class politics behind representations of work and play in children's literature of the industrial era. Hoiem holds a PhD in English from Illinois. 

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

Knox appointed interim dean

Professor Emily Knox has been appointed to serve as interim dean of the School of Information Sciences, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. Until officially approved, her title will be interim dean designate. The appointment will begin April 1, 2025.

Emily Knox

iSchool instructors ranked as excellent

Fifty-six iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Fall 2024 and Winter 2024-2025. The rankings are released every semester, and results are based on the ratings from the Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms maintained by Measurement and Evaluation in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. 

iSchool Building

Ocepek and Sanfilippo co-edit book on misinformation

Assistant Professor Melissa Ocepek and Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo have co-edited a new book, Governing Misinformation in Everyday Knowledge Commons, which was recently published by Cambridge University Press. An open access edition of the book is available, thanks to support from the Governing Knowledge Commons Research Coordination Network (NSF 2017495). The new book explores the socio-technical realities of misinformation in a variety of online and offline everyday environments. 

Governing Misinformation in Everyday Knowledge Commons book

Faculty receive support for AI-related projects from new pilot program

Associate Professor Yun Huang, Assistant Professor Jiaqi Ma, and Assistant Professor Haohan Wang have received computing resources from the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR), a two-year pilot program led by the National Science Foundation in partnership with other federal agencies and nongovernmental partners. The goal of the pilot is to support AI-related research with particular emphasis on societal challenges. Last month, awardees presented their research at the NAIRR Pilot Annual Meeting.

iSchool participation in iConference 2025

The following iSchool faculty and students will participate in iConference 2025, which will be held virtually from March 11-14 and physically from March 18-22 in Bloomington, Indiana. The theme of this year's conference is "Living in an AI-gorithmic world."