Terese Kerstinsdotter

PhD student at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, Gothenburg University 

I am a doctoral student in comparative literature at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion at Gothenburg University. My dissertation work crosses the fields of literature instruction and controversial/sensitive issues in education with a particular focus on race, ethnicity and racism. I investigate what concerns pre-service teachers have and what positionings and tensions arise when they discuss teaching-oriented readings of fiction that broach 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.

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 in the Teacher Education Programme (with a subject specialization in Swedish).