Beyond Survival: Narratives of Empowerment and Childhood Agency in Malaysian Youth Literature

Abstract:This article discusses various depictions of childhood agency and empowerment in three examples of Malaysian children’s and young adult literature in English to highlight the value and viability of these literary texts as stories for survival. In emphasizing agency as “the new paradigm of childhood,” this article argues that these literary texts, as examples of narratives of empowerment, are crucial for the durability and relevance of youth literature in contemporary multicultural societies like Malaysia through their capacity to demonstrate how young people are and must be seen as active in the construction and determination of their own social lives, the lives of those around them, and the societies in which they live.