Monster Book Club

Engaging with Contemporary Youth Political Knowledges through Young Adult Literature

Abstract

Due to the limits on minors’ legal, geographic, and financial agency, many young people face difficulties directly engaging in civic activity or political activism. Researchers must therefore find creative, desire-centered ways of engaging with youth theories in a manner that is accessible to a broad number of young people. This paper explores the methodologies and theoretical findings of a six-month digital ethnographic study in which twelve American teenagers read and analyzed works of young adult speculative fiction that explore political themes through the central metaphor of monstrosity. Over the course of the study, the participants’ theories of monstrosity fell into three conceptual categories: invisible monsters (internal forces), the monstrous oppressed, and monstrous oppressors. This paper aims to demonstrate that the methodological approach of engaging with youth political knowledges through young adult literature leads to theoretical bridges across academic disciplines and offers social, emotional, and intellectual benefits to young research participants.