ABSTRACT

Visual analysis is a commonplace technique in geography pedagogy yet it is rarely used in the Australian literary studies context. This article explores the potential for visual analysis to contribute to the shared understanding of a work of literature in a university classroom setting. The use of visual analysis geography can encourage students to read texts closely and map them spatially using pen and paper. It proposes that literary studies educators may turn to innovative methods derived from geography to engage students with literary works. This article discusses a visual analysis assignment which centres on Jennifer Down’s Melbourne-based novel Our Magic Hour (2016) for a Literary Studies subject at RMIT University delivered predominantly face- to-face in 2018–2019 and then entirely online in 2020. I describe it as a “messy mapping” assignment which encourages students to acknowledge the limitations and erasures of positivist maps, while trying to capture relationships between emotion and place. I argue that “messy mapping” can activate the many connections and overlaps between texts and students’ own personal worlds.

摘要

视觉分析是地理教学中的一种常见技术，但在澳大利亚文学研究背景下很少使用。本文探讨了视觉分析在大学课堂环境中促进对文学作品的共同理解的潜力。使用视觉分析地理可以鼓励学生仔细阅读文本并使用笔和纸在空间上绘制它们。它建议文学研究教育工作者可以求助于源自地理的创新方法，让学生参与文学作品。本文讨论了一项视觉分析任务，该任务以 Jennifer Down 的墨尔本小说 Our Magic Hour (2016) 为中心，在 RMIT 大学的文学研究科目中主要在 2018-2019 年进行面对面授课，然后在 2020 年完全在线授课。我将其描述为“混乱的地图”作业，鼓励学生承认实证主义地图的局限性和可擦除性，同时试图捕捉情感和地点之间的关系。我认为“凌乱的映射”可以激活文本和学生个人世界之间的许多联系和重叠。