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Catrin Gersdorf and Sylvia Meyer (2006) state that ecocriticism is a methodology which investigates different ways to contextualise nature and its function ideologically, aesthetically and ethically in literary texts. Through a close reading of three novels by the Syrian authors Fāris Zarzūr, ‘Abd al-Salām al-‘Ujaylī and Jān Aliksān this paper will investigate how they, in their literary texts, engage with one of the biggest human interventions in the natural life of Syria, namely the dams built along the Euphrates. By an examination of the characters’ relationship with the river – and later the dams and their drowned villages, the paper will show that the novelists make use of nature and its destruction to discuss ideological stands as well as ethical dilemmas. Although the three novelists reach different conclusions, they all aesthetically utilise water and its innate force which is forcibly tamed, to examine interaction between humans and nature, tradition and modernity, and individuals and the state apparatus.     

In this article, we study space for multiliteracies in basic literacy education for adult second language learners of Swedish for Immigrants (SFI). The teaching observed was categorised as translanguaging pedagogy, and the study was part of an action research project with Linguistic Ethnography as the methodological framework. The material used comes from classroom observations in three schools and consists of fieldnotes, recordings of teaching, photographs, handouts and other artefacts. Hornberger’s (2003) continua of biliteracy was used for the analysis. Findings show there to be space for multiliteracies in these classrooms; however, since most students in these classes have limited literacy skills in their earlier languages, the written texts used in class are mainly in Swedish. Findings also show that teaching includes practices from all points on the continua, which Hornberger (1989) highlights as important for biliterate development, in this case to a lesser extent for written language. The shuttling between the ends of all continua is particularly important for students in SFI, Study Path One, who tend to have low status in, for example, the workforce and society. Findings also show that images tend to be used as tools rather than as objects for interpretation. Our conclusion is that space form ultiliteracies varies depending on the earlier literacy skills of students, the number of students in a group who understood a particular language and the availability of study guidance assistants in the students’ mother tongues.

This article discusses the connection between power and sexual activity as seen in the novel Rā’iḥat al-qirfah (The Scent of Cinnamon) by the Syrian author Samar Yazbik. It addresses how the fictional society constructed in the novel sees sexual prowess as an instrument of power and how the author uses this connection to analyse and critique the power structures found in Syrian society. This is done through all the characters but in particular through the development of ‘Alyā, who transgresses gender norms and adopts what is coded male sexual behaviour in an attempt to obtain power. The article argues that her actions at the same time validate and violate the gender order since not only do they show that male sexual performance is linked to power, but also that a female can perform the same actions. Alyā’s conduct further illustrates the mechanisms of power structures built on fear and violence as found in the novel.

This chapter explores relationships between student voice and translanguaging pedagogy in adult education for immigrant L2-learners with minimal or no prior schooling. Material collected over the course of three terms through classroom observations was used. Even though the students in this study do not challenge neither the teacher nor the teaching, they – along with the teachers – do challenge the monolingual norm that prevails in Swedish schools by claiming their voice and positioning themselves with their multilingual competence. We conclude that the use of translanguaging pedagogy gave students voice to express their views and relate the teaching to their experiences, both from their everyday lives in Sweden and from their earlier lives. The way that teachers not only gave room for the use of diverse languages but also themselves took interest in and engaged themselves in learning students’ various languages was positive for students’ engagement and their development of multilingual skills.