Reading literature has often been described as transporting, but it has less often been considered as having an impact on real communities. Yet, reading literature can transform one's reading of the world and vice versa. In Community-Based Learning and the Work of Literature , the authors make the case for cultivating already-existing relationships between literature and public engagement. Written for faculty and staff in literature and humanities programs, this book provides innovative ways to incorporate community-based learning (CBL)—the attempt to link the work of university classrooms with communities at large—into literary studies. This book examines how community engagement re-imagines academic work in the humanities, proposing new approaches to scholarship and pedagogy in literary studies. The chapter contributors—all scholars of English, foreign language literature, and cultural studies—respond to three questions: How can literary theory inform CBL? - How does community service transform our assumptions about literature and the literary aspects of everyday life? - In what ways do readings in cultural studies extend to the question of civitas, or the creation of a vibrant community life? Answering these questions, the contributors move literary studies beyond the lecture halls and toward the formation of learning communities that revise our conceptions of the human condition, construct an expanded and active sociological imagination, encourage compassion, and address issues of social justice. By linking literature and life through service-learning, the authors show how literary scholars can harness the power of their discipline to transform as well as inform. "Community-based learning promises to help academic institutions make good on the ideals of active learning as well as of liberal education. For this reason, it richly deserves a full and serious trial at every level of higher education." —Gerald Graff, Professor of English, University of Illinois at Chicago "I have no doubt that this book will be warmly received by countless individual faculty members who in their own teaching have never lost faith in the power of the moral imagination." —Edward Zlotkowski, Senior Faculty Fellow, Campus Compact, and Professor of English, Bentley College This book examines how community engagement reimagines academic work in the humanities, proposing new methodological and theoretical approaches to scholarship and pedagogy in literary studies. The chapter contributors—scholars of English and foreign language literature and cultural studies—respond to three questions: How can literary theory inform community-based learning (CBL)? How does community service transform our assumptions about literature and the literary aspects of everyday life? And finally, in what ways do current readings in cultural studies extend to the question of civitas, or the creation of a vibrant community life? By answering these questions, the contributors move literary studies beyond the lecture hall and certified competency in the reading of texts and toward the formation of learning communities without walls or borders. These humanities-based learning communities revise our conceptions of the human condition, construct an expanded and active sociological imagination, encourage compassion, and address issues of social justice. Written for faculty and staff in literature and humanities programs at all types of institutions, this book provides innovative ways to incorporate CBL into classroom experiences. Susan Danielson received her Ph.D. in American literature and women’s studies from the University of Oregon. She is professor of American literature at Portland State University and has been instrumental in developing and teaching community-based learning (CBL) courses through the Department of English and the Center for Academic Excellence since the early 1990s. In pursuing her scholarly agenda, she works to negotiate the borders among innovative programs, interdisciplinary curricular development, and more traditional literary scholarship. Integrating CBL pedagogy into courses such as Literature and Medicine and The Immigrant Experience deepens the impact of literary study; students develop a new level of understanding as well as a new discourse within the context of community-based experiences. She has received numerous grants from Portland State University’s Center for Academic Excellence and Campus Compact, and has lectured and written on the interconnections between CBL and literary studies. Ann Marie Fallon received her B.A ion English from Swarthmore College and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Virginia. She is an assistant professor in the University Studies program at Portland State University and teaches courses in postcolonial theory, feminist theory, and American studies and democracy. She was a junior Fulbright scholar in Germany in the 2004-2005 academic year and has lectured and writt