Howard Sklar, PhD |
University Lecturer Department of Modern Languages (English Philology) University of Helsinki
Docent in Literary Studies, with a Special Emphasis in Narrative Theory (University of Tampere) |
C.V. |
CURRICULUM VITAE Howard Sklar, PhD, Docent
EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
January 27, 2015 Title of Docent (Adjunct Professor) in Literary Studies, with a Special Emphasis in Narrative Theory University of Tampere
November 25, 2008 PhD University of Helsinki, English Philology Dissertation title: The Art of Sympathy: Forms of Moral and Emotional Persuasion in Fiction
May 1996 Master of Arts (Jewish Studies) Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California [Päätös ulkomailla suoritetun korkeakoulututkinnon rinnastamisesta Suomessa suoritettavaan korkeakoulututkintoon (Master of Arts degree), Opetushallitus, Helsinki, Finland, 2000]
1987 California Clear Single Subject Teaching Credential (Authorized Subject: English) California State University, Los Angeles Preliminary Credential: 1987; Clear Credential: 1992; Last Renewed: 2007 Clear Crosscultural Language and Academic Development (CLAD) Certificate: 1997 [Päätös opinnoista vieraskielisen opetuksen antamiseen, Opetushallitus, Helsinki, Finland, 2001]
March 1986 Bachelor of Arts (English Language and Literature) University of California at Los Angeles
UNIVERSITY TEACHING AND RESEARCH (most recent)
August 2013 - University Lecturer Department of Languages (formerly Department of Modern Languages) English Philology Unit University of Helsinki
September 2011-August 2013 Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher Home Department: Department of Modern Languages (English Philology Unit) University of Helsinki
Spring 2013 Instructor (in connection with research assignment) Advanced Option Course: “Fiction, Ethics and the Significance of Reading” Department of Modern Languages (English Philology Unit) University of Helsinki
Spring 2012 Instructor (in connection with research assignment) Advanced Option Course: “Reading Other Minds” Department of Modern Languages (English Philology Unit) University of Helsinki
Spring 2011 Hourly Instructor Intermediate/Advanced-Level Course: “Fiction, Ethics and the Significance of Reading” Department of Comparative Literature University of Helsinki
Spring 2010 Hourly Instructor Intermediate/Advanced-Level Course: “Disability Studies and Literature” Department of Comparative Literature University of Helsinki
Fall 2009 Hourly Instructor Intermediate/Advanced-Level Course: “Fiction and the Emotions” Department of English/Department of Comparative Literature University of Helsinki
Spring 2009 Hourly Instructor Intermediate/Advanced-Level Course: “Fiction, Ethics and the Significance of Reading” Department of English/Department of Comparative Literature University of Helsinki
Fall 2006 Hourly Instructor Intermediate/Advanced-Level Course: “Fiction, Ethics and the Significance of Reading” Department of English/Department of Comparative Literature/Department of Aesthetics University of Helsinki
PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHING (most recent)
August 2001 – 2011 (academic leave: August 2007–August 2008; Sept. 2011-Aug. 2013) Subject Teacher (English) Bilingual Program Kuitinmäen koulu (yläaste/junior high school) Espoo, Finland
August 1997 – June 2005 Classroom Teacher Bilingual Program Tähtiniityn koulu (primary school) Espoo, Finland
PUBLICATIONS (last updated: August 2018)
(forthcoming) “‘Memoir’ as Counter-Narrative: Reimagining the Self in Roth’s The Plot Against America.” Akademisk Kvarter/Academic Quarter (Aalborg University, Denmark).
(2018) “Empathy’s Neglected Cousin: How Narratives Shape Our Sympathy.” In Donald R. Wehrs and Thomas Blake, eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Affect Studies and Textual Criticism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 451-480.
(2017) Co-editor (with Merja Polvinen and Maria Salenius), Mielikuvituksen maailmat: Tieteidenvälisiä tutkimuksia kirjallisuudesta / Fantasins världar: Tvärvetenskaplig litteraturforskning / Worlds of Imagination: Explorations in Interdisciplinary Literary Research. Essays in Honor of Prof. Bo Pettersson.
(2017) “Introduction: On the Importance of Ethics in Imagining Fictional Worlds.” In Merja Polvinen, Maria Salenius and Howard Sklar, eds. Mielikuvituksen maailmat: Tieteidenvälisiä tutkimuksia kirjallisuudesta / Fantasins världar: Tvärvetenskaplig litteraturforskning / Worlds of Imagination: Explorations in Interdisciplinary Literary Research. Essays in Honor of Prof. Bo Pettersson. 241-248.
(2017, co-authored by Irma Taavitsainen) “A Modest Proposal in The Gentleman's Magazine: Making Sense of a Peculiar 18th-Century Advertisement.” In Minna Palander-Collin, Irma Taavitsainen and Maura Ratia, eds. Diachronic Developments in English News Discourse. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. “Advances in Historical Sociolinguistics” series.
(2015) “Reading Other Minds: Ethical Considerations on the Representation of Intellectual Disability in Fiction.” In Tom Shakespeare, ed. Disability Research Today: International Perspectives. London: Routledge.
(2013) “The Many Voices of Charlie Gordon: On the Representation of Intellectual Disability in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon.” In Kathryn Allan, ed. Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 47-59 (13 pages).
(2013) “Anything But a Simpleton”: The Ethics of Representing Intellectual Disability in Tarjei Vesaas’s The Birds. In Jeremy Hawthorn and Jakob Lothe, eds. Narrative Ethics. New York: Rodopi. Value Inquiry Book Series. 167-180 (14 pages).
(2013) “‘I am the Whole Dream of These Things’: Exploring Self and Other through Literature in the EFL Classroom.” In Jukka Tyrkkö, Olga Timofeeva and Maria Salenius, eds. Ex Philologia Lux: Essays in Honour of Leena Kahlas-Tarkka. Helsinki: Société Néophilologique. 463-74 (12 pages).
(2013) The Art of Sympathy in Fiction: Forms of Ethical and Emotional Persuasion. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. “Linguistic Approaches to Literature” series.
(2012) “Narrative Empowerment through Comics Storytelling: Facilitating the Life Stories of the Intellectually Disabled.” Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies. Link to article (requires subscription). Link to journal homepage.
(2011) “‘What the Hell Happened to Maggie?’: Stereotype, Sympathy, and Disability in Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’”. Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies 5.2: 137-154. Special issue, “Representing Disability and Emotion.” Link (requires subscription).
(2009, refereed journal article) “Narrative Structuring of Sympathetic Response: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches to Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘The Hammer Man.’” Poetics Today 30:3. Link (requires subscription)
(2009, edited book chapter) “Breaking Bread: The Sympathetic Effects of Sharing Food in The Grapes of Wrath.” In Michael Meyer, ed. The Grapes of Wrath: A Re-Consideration. Amsterdam/ New York: Rodopi. Link to publisher’s description of book.
(2009) Editor, Helsinki English Studies 5 (online journal of the Department of English, University of Helsinki). Special issue: “Emotions: Implications for Literary, Linguistic and Translation Studies”. Link to special issue/journal home.
(2009) “Introduction.” Helsinki English Studies 5. Special issue: “Emotions: Implications for Literary, Linguistic and Translation Studies”. Link
(2009, edited journal article) “Believable Fictions: On the Nature of Emotional Responses to Fictional Characters.” Helsinki English Studies 5. Special Issue: “Emotions: Implications for Literary, Linguistic and Translation Studies.” Link
(2009) Lectio praecursoria (published version of introductory lecture from doctoral defense). Helsinki English Studies 5. Special Issue: “Emotions: Implications for Literary, Linguistic and Translation Studies.” Link
(2008) The Art of Sympathy: Forms of Moral and Emotional Persuasion in Fiction. PhD Dissertation (limited printing, available through Finnish library system). Link to abstract (in Finnish and English). (Revised version of manuscript under review with European academic publisher.)
(2008, refereed journal article) “Narrative as Experience: The Pedagogical Implications of Sympathizing with Fictional Characters.” Partial Answers 6:2. Link to abstract/article (subscription required for article).
(2008, refereed journal article) “Sympathy as Self-Discovery: The Significance of Caring for Others in “Betrayals.” Paradoxa: World Literary Genres (special issue on Ursula K. Le Guin). Link to journal website.
(2007, edited journal review) “Reimagining the Teaching of Secondary English.” Review of Jim Burke, The English Teacher’s Companion: A Complete Guide to Classroom, Curriculum, and the Profession. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2003. Pedagogy 7:2. Link
(2005, edited book chapter) “Believable Fictions: The Moral Implications of Story-Based Emotions.” In Harri Veivo, Bo Pettersson, and Merja Polvinen, eds. Cognition and Literary Interpretation in Practice. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press. Link to publisher’s description of book.
RECENT CONFERENCE AND SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS (last updated...long ago)
2014:
The 15th Biennial Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference on North American Studies, “North America in the World, and the World in North America” University of Helsinki, Finland Presentation: “There’s Other Ways to End This Story”: El Pachuco as Counter-Narrator in Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit
KTS (Kirjallisuudentutkijain seura/Finnish Literary Research Society) Annual Seminar: “Myytti, uskonto, kirjallisuus” (“Myth, Religion, Literature”) University of Helsinki, Finland Presentation: Narrative Progression, Expectation and Uncertainty in the Biblical Story of Joseph
International Conference on Narrative 2014, International Society for the Study of Narrative Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, United States Presentation: “There’s Other Ways to End This Story”: El Pachuco as Counter-Narrator in Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit
2013:
Future Directions in Cognitive Linguistics and Literary Studies University of Helsinki, Finland Paper: Reading Other Minds: Ethical Considerations on the Representation of Intellectual Disability in Fiction
International Conference on Narrative 2013, International Society for the Study of Narrative Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK Paper: Sympathy, Ethics and the Representation of Intellectual Disability in Malamud’s “Idiots First”
NNDR2013-Turku: Conference in Disability Research, Nordic Network for Disability Research Turku, Finland Paper: Reading Other Minds: Ethical Considerations on the Representation of Intellectual Disability in Fiction
Narrative Minds and Virtual Worlds University of Tampere, Finland Paper: Reading Other Minds: Ethical Considerations on the Representation of Intellectual Disability in Fiction
2012:
Literature and Media, Media as Literature: An Interdisciplinary Workshop, University of Tampere, Finland Paper: “Forrest Gump as an Intermedial Phenomenon: The Influence of the Film in Shaping Responses to the Novel (and What Both Representations Say about People with Intellectual Disabilities)
Narration and Narratives as an Interdisciplinary Field of Study, Nordic Network of Narrative Studies, Örebro University, Sweden, 2012 Presentation: The Uses and Abuses of Narrative Coherence: Ethical Issues in the Construction of the Life Stories of People with Intellectual Disabilities
ESA (European Sociological Network) 20 Midterm Conference, University of Lund, Sweden, 2012 Presentation: The Uses and Abuses of Narrative Coherence: Ethical Issues in the Construction of the Life Stories of People with Intellectual Disabilities
Narrative Matters 2012: Life and Narrative, American University of Paris, France, 2012 Presentation: The Uses and Abuses of Narrative Coherence: Ethical Issues in the Construction of the Life Stories of the Intellectually Disabled
The 14th Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland, 2012 Presentation: “The Way a Bear Drags His Paws”: Steinbeck's Western Naturalism in the Representation of Intellectual Disability
International Society for the Study of Narrative Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 2012 Presentation: The Many Voices of Charlie Gordon: On the Representation of Intellectual Disability in Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon
2011:
Top Research Morning University of Helsinki Helsinki, Finland Presentation: “Applying for Academy Postdoc Funding: Some Practical Suggestions”
Otherness, Subjectivity and Representation Åbo/Turku, Finland Åbo Akademi Presentation: “‘Hush, Benjy’: Voice, Silence and the Ethics of Representing Intellectual Disability in Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury”
Teaching Narrative and Teaching Through Narrative Tampere, Finland Nordic Network of Narrative Studies Presentation: “‘I Done a Bad Thing’: The Representation of Intellectual Disability in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and Its Ethical and Practical Implications for Secondary School Teaching”
VAKKI XXXI Symposium (“Language and Ethics”) Vaasa, Finland Presentation: “‘Hush, Benjy’: Voice, Silence and the Ethics of Representing Intellectual Disability in Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury”
2010:
Nordic Network of Narrative Studies Conference on Narrative Ethics Oslo, Norway Paper: “‘Anything But a Simpleton’: The Ethics of Representing Intellectual Disability in Tarjei Vesaas’s The Birds”
Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Seminar Helsinki, Finland Presentation: “‘Experts are people who have lived it’: An Investigation of Narratives Representing the Intellectually Disabled and Their Effects on Non-disabled Adolescent Readers” (presentation of research proposal)
Disability Studies Conference Lancaster, UK Poster Presentation: “Life Narratives in Graphic Form: Strategies for Enabling the ‘Intellectually Disabled’ to Construct Their Own Stories”
Mimesis, Ethics and Style Conference Helsinki, Finland Paper: “The Clothes Make the Man: Fantastic Empathy and Realistic Sympathy in Roth’s ‘Eli, the Fanatic’”
International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature and Media Conference Utrecht, The Netherlands Paper/Presentation: “Representing Intellectual Disability: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations of the Effects of Fictional and Autobiographical Narratives Representing the Intellectually Disabled on Non-Disabled Adolescent Readers”
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