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Editor Thank You to Reviewers for 109(4)
No full textThe editors thank the reviewers of Volume 109, Issue 4
Reading, Seeing, and Teaching Kafka’s The Metamorphosis in Translation
No full text“Reading, Seeing, and Teaching Kafka’s The Metamorphosis in Translation” explores teaching Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in English translation as part of German 101b, a second semester introductory German language and culture course. My essay discusses the way in which including Peter Kuper’s 2004 graphic novel adaptation complements Kafka’s novella within our introductory course that serves a broad representation of students with widely divergent academic interests.
My paper is informed by visually- and structurally-oriented studies, as well as novella theory and Jungian concepts of transformation. I demonstrate how Kafka’s Metamorphosis can be approached through the intersection of texts that invite a rereading of modernist material that is over a century old
“Too small to be targeted:” Perceived Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities of Small-Scale U.S. Farmers
No full textAs agriculture becomes increasingly digitalized, farms face rising exposure to cyberthreats that jeopardize data security, productivity, and business continuity. This study examined small-scale crop and livestock producers’ perceptions of cybersecurity risks, their experiences with cyberattacks, and their information sources across 12 U.S. Midwest states. Guided by the Social Amplification of Risk Framework (SARF), a mixed-mode survey design was used, combining online and mail questionnaires distributed to 14,000 small farms between November 2023 and April 2024. Findings revealed that while most farmers were moderately familiar with cybersecurity concepts and recognized the importance of protective action, many underestimated their likelihood of being targeted. Farmers expressed the greatest concern over personal identity theft and computer viruses but were less aware of broader operational vulnerabilities. The majority practiced basic protective behaviors such as anti-malware installation and data backup, yet fewer implemented advanced measures like encryption or multifactor authentication. Media, friends, and relatives were the most frequently cited information sources, while formal channels such as Extension services were seldom used. Results underscore a critical need for cybersecurity literacy programs tailored to rural communities and smallholder operations. The study extends SARF by showing how interpersonal communication and perceived relevance shape risk awareness and protective behavior in the agricultural sector. The insights also hold international value, offering a model for strengthening digital resilience in global farming systems
Developing International Agricultural Communications: A Photo Elicitation of International Agricultural Development Implementors
No full textChanges in stakeholders in international agricultural development create new needs for communication channels to facilitate knowledge transfer. It is crucial to address this gap between program needs and program success for development programs to thrive. As communication is measured, visually communications need to be addressed specifically. Visual communication is needed to bridge the gap between local communities and implementing programmers. Using photo elicitation, researchers purposively sampled individuals who were program directors, agricultural development practitioners, and program implementors in Farmer-to-Farmer programs in Bangladesh, Nepal, Egypt and Lebanon. Findings were grouped to identify four main elements desired by program practitioners and beneficiaries to help communicate about international agricultural development. These included contextual, compositional, humanizing, and engaging elements. The four elements discovered should be considered factors in a model of international agricultural development communication and implemented to align practitioners’ views of programs with other stakeholders in the system
Milked Messages: Exploring Dairy Industry Narratives in U.S. News
No full textThis study examines the framing of dairy farming in U.S. news, focusing on framing functions, subject matter, and informational and moral/ethical frames. Through a quantitative content analysis of 282 news pieces from eight outlets, this research explores how the dairy is represented and considers potential implications for public perception. Findings indicate that problem definition was the most prominent framing function, appearing in all sampled pieces, while moral evaluations and treatment recommendations were present in only a quarter of the coverage. Dairy demand was the most frequently discussed topic, and farm failures received significantly more attention than farm successes. Informational frames were largely negative, aligning with previous research indicating a news media tendency to highlight industry challenges. Moral/ethical frames were predominantly neutral, suggesting minimal explicit opinions from news outlets. These results suggest that news coverage may contribute to a perception of dairy farming as facing persistent difficulties with few presented solutions. Recommendations include enhancing industry transparency, highlighting positive developments, and addressing concerns through educational initiatives and strategic communication. This study provides a foundation for further research on media framing’s influence on public attitudes and offers insights for shaping industry narratives
“Vous en avez d’autres comme celui-ci?” (“Do you have any more like this one?”): Teaching Françoise Sagan’s 1954 Novel Bonjour tristesse to 21st-century Students
No full text“Vous en avez d’autres comme celui-ci?”:
Teaching Françoise Sagan’s 1954 Novel Bonjour tristesse to 21st-century Students
Since COVID, Americans’ interest in literature has dropped precipitously: “The percent of U.S. adults who read novels or short stories declined at a 17% rate, from 45.2 percent in 2012 to 37.6 percent in 2022” (Publishers Weekly)[1]. Instructors of literature courses are aware of this trend that certainly predates the pandemic. The first-week icebreaker prompt “What is your favorite book?” increasingly elicits the (disheartening) response, “I don’t like reading.” Inspiring students to read literature in a second language is challenging, but convincing them that reading, in general, is a worthwhile habit is both daunting and imperative.
For the last 20 years, I have concluded my “Introduction to French Literature\u27’ course with Françoise Sagan’s Bonjour tristesse about 17 year-old Cécile’s summer on the Côte d’Azur. Students read the novel after analyzing works by Molière, Claire de Duras, Maupassant and Baudelaire (among others). Colleagues may raise eyebrows at the inclusion of the novel that Sagan wrote when she was only 18 given that “because of its popularity and the author’s celebrity status and hedonistic image, [the novel] has never been given much serious analysis by literary critics” (Saur 198).[2] Notwithstanding, Sagan’s novel proves an ideal choice for its relevance (my students are often 18-22), brevity (152 pages) and because this so-called “beach read” is deceptively complex.
In recent years, students have increasingly expressed how much they enjoy Sagan’s novel, going so far as to ask, “Vous en avez d’autres comme celui-ci?” (Do you have other ones like this?). How should increased student appreciation for non-canonical novels (recent or “old”) shape the future of teaching literature? In this article, I propose to provide French literature instructors both with justification for Sagan’s 1954 novel in their 21st-century curriculum as well as sample lesson ideas to facilitate discussion of key literary concepts, terms and important themes. Additionally, and perhaps most useful to literature instructors in general, I provide specific examples of student reaction to Bonjour tristesse and explore what evolving interest in the novel can tell us about the future of literary studies in the second language classroom.
[1]https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/index.html?record=4377#:~:text=In%202022%2C%2053%25%20of%20U.S.,points%20lower%20than%20in%202012.
[2] Saur P.S. “Cécile in Françoise Sagan’s BONJOUR TRISTESSE: A Female Version of Albert Camus’s STRANGER?” Explicator, vol. 74, no. 4, 2016, pp. 197–201, https://doi.org/10.1080/00144940.2016.1235539
Special Focus: Teaching 20th and 21st Century Literature
No full textIntroduction for the Special Focus of STTCL 50.1: Teaching 20th and 21st Century Literature
Teaching Hurricane María: From Chaos and Crisis to Healing and Resistance in Contemporary Puerto Rican Fiction
No full textIn my years of teaching, one of the questions that keeps coming up for me is how do instructors teach students about different crises? How can we investigate crises, like immigration or gender violence crises or the aftermaths of natural disasters, through fiction? How can we encourage students to analyze these events or these more generalized crises through fiction, especially when in some cases, students were too young to remember or in other cases, catastrophic natural disasters, like Hurricane María in 2017 that devastated Puerto Rico, did not directly impact them in the United States? This article studies pedagogical and methodological approaches to teaching representations of trauma following natural disasters, in particular the aftereffects of Hurricane María in contemporary Puerto Rican fiction at the University of California, Davis. By analyzing literary and artistic responses to the catastrophic storm (i.e. literature, films, photography, and music, among others) as well as the political activism that has occurred in response to an inefficient and negligent Puerto Rican government, students at UC Davis engaged with fiction that not only illustrates chaos and crisis, but that also heals, resists, and decolonizes. In detailing how I foster student engagement employing multimodal and multigeneric approaches in my After Hurricane María: From Chaos to Rebellion in Contemporary Puerto Rican Fiction, I propose that teaching crisis and trauma fiction can promote students’ critical thinking, allowing them to gain a better understanding of contemporary iterations of crisis while being mindful of their own wellbeing. Using a trauma-informed educational practice and approach, I encouraged my students to analyze not only how artists are using visual and written material to represent crises and their aftereffects, but also how we use art, literature, and other mediums to examine and respond to the effects of crisis on our lives and heal from trauma