Jeunesse - Young People, Texts, Cultures (E-Journal)
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Meat, Masculinity, and Pathologized Adolescence in Michael Logan’s Apocalypse Cow and Scott Westerfeld’s Peeps
No full textDrawing on Carol J. Adams’s observations about discourses of meat and masculinity, this paper examines the role of flesh consumption in Michael Logan’s zombie satire Apocalypse Cow and Scott Westerfeld’s pseudo-vampire novel Peeps. By analyzing the discursive strategies that Westerfeld and Logan employ to reflect upon adult and adolescent masculinity, the paper reveals the radical potential in as well as the cultural limitations of consumptive epidemics in literature for and about young men. This potential and these limitations in turn reflect contemporary dialogues between different models of masculine subjectivity.
DOI: 10.1353/jeu.2014.000
Culinary Culture in Asian/North American Coming-of-Age Literature
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Ho, Jennifer Ann. Consumption and Identity in Asian American Coming-of-Age Novels. 2005. New York: Routledge, 2012.
DOI: 10.1353/jeu.2014.000
Abandonment and Invisible Children in Contemporary Canadian Young Adult Fiction
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Adderson, Caroline. Middle of Nowhere. Toronto: Groundwood, 2012.
Armstrong, Luanne. I’ll Be Home Soon. Vancouver: Ronsdale, 2012.
Goobie, Beth. Jason’s Why. Markham: Red Deer, 2013.
Tanaka, Shelley. Nobody Knows. Toronto: Groundwood, 2012.
DOI: 10.1353/jeu.2014.001
Masculinity, Makeovers, and the Ethics of Consumption in Japanese Films for Young People
No full textThis article examines three recent Japanese films for young people—Kyō, koi wo hajimemasu (Today, I Will Fall in Love), Paradise Kiss, and Runway Beat—that employ a common narrative strategy whereby interior development of the female protagonist is matched by a process of transformation through consumption, in the form of a makeover. The films code consumption as morally good in that the female protagonists, following this transformation, achieve some degree of subjective agency and find meaningful positions in their social worlds. Nevertheless, an examination of the process of transformation and of the depictions of the young men who initiate and control the transformations reveals that these films convey a problematic ethics of consumption.
DOI: 10.1353/jeu.2014.000
The American Girl Company and the Uses of Nostalgia in Children’s Consumer Culture
No full textSince the mid-1980s, thousands of girls have encountered history through the American Girl books, dolls, and merchandise. Drawing on the work of Fredric Jameson and Arjun Appadurai, both of whom comment on the ways in which historical narratives are always imbued with nostalgia, this paper argues that by creating purchasable “artifacts” for dolls, American Girl has drawn on nostalgic consumer impulses to create longing for an imagined and sanitized history. As American Girl has changed its focus from historical dolls to contemporary dolls, its message has become more focused on individuality, fashion, and personal improvement.
DOI: 10.1353/jeu.2014.001
Reframing History: Insider/Outsider Paradigms in Ten Books about Slavery
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Baxter, Jean Rae. Freedom Bound. Vancouver: Ronsdale, 2012.
Cooper, Afua. My Name Is Henry Bibb: A Story of Slavery and Freedom. Toronto: Kids Can, 2009.
Cooper, Afua. My Name Is Phillis Wheatley: A Story of Slavery and Freedom. Toronto: Kids Can, 2009.
Gann, Marjorie, and Janet Willen. Five Thousand Years of Slavery. Toronto: Tundra, 2011.
Granfield, Linda. Out of Slavery: The Journey to Amazing Grace. Illus. Janet Wilson. 1997. Toronto: Tundra, 2009.
Herbstein, Manu. Brave Music of a Distant Drum. Markham: Red Deer, 2011.
Plaxton, Judith. Morning Star. Toronto: Second Story, 2011.
Towell, Ann. Grease Town. Toronto: Tundra, 2010.
Wesley, Gloria Ann. Chasing Freedom. Black Point: Roseway, 2011.
Wesley, Gloria Ann. If This Is Freedom. Black Point: Roseway, 2013.
DOI: 10.1353/jeu.2014.002
