Using Fiction to Teach Secondary Students about the Middle East

Karl Ågerup is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature in the School of Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences at Orebro University, Sweden.

• Part I Introduction.- The Urgency of Reading Cross-Cultural Fiction.- Competing Educational Policies.- Literary Education in Sweden.- Yasmina Khadra and The Sirens of Baghdad.- Methodological Considerations.- Part II Reading.- Using Fiction as a Source of Real-World Knowledge.- Imagination and Empathy.- Identifying With the Hero’s Emotions.- Transportation to the Fictional World.- Trusting the Author and Connecting the Novel to Real Iraq.- Partial Response Patterns.- Statistical Analysis.- Individual Emotive Reactions.- The Teachers’ View of the Intervention.- Using the Novel in Vocational Classes.- Addressing Diversity.- Part III Discussing.- Handling Political Emotions in the Classroom.- Creating Productive Student Relationships.- Students at Risk.- Collaborative Teaching Practices.- Fiction's Role in Intercultural Education.- Picking the Right Books.- Planning and Leading Book Talks.- Part IV Conclusion.- Summary.