Research in the Teaching of English - Volume 37, Issue 2, 2002

This essay outlines the beginnings of a political economy of the children’s literature publishing industry. Central to the analysis is a consideration of the continuing commodification of children’s literature, the increase in the licensing and merchandizing of characters from children’s books and popular films, and the proliferation of series books that have assumed the status of brand names comparable to other commercial commodities.

While social constructivist interpretations have advanced a relational, multiple, and fluid conception of identity, one difficult problem involves understanding how identities are stabilized during the course of interaction. This article argues that interactants define and stabilize identity by producing identity artifacts with multimodal means, by constructing configurations of those artifacts, and by using those artifacts to project social space.

Deborah Brown, Catherine Beavis, Judith Kalman, Gert Rijlaarsdam, Anne D’Antonio Stinson, Melissa E. Whiting Twice a year, in the May and November issues, RTE publishes a selected bibliography of recent research in the teaching of English. The listing is selective; we make no attempt to include all research and research-related articles that appeared in the period under review.