Page - 81 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

Representations of Religion and Culture in Children’s Literature | 81www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 81–99 Verena Eberhardt Representations of Religion and Culture in Children’s Literature An Analysis of Othering Processes in Texts and Illustrations ABSTRACT Literature is an important medium for representing and communicating world-views and values. This article focuses on the representation of culture and religion and reveals constructions of identities in children’s literature. The analysis of selected contemporary German-language books considers through a discourse analytical ap- proach the representation of the main characters and their cultural and religious back- grounds as well as their faith and its practices. The narrations analysed tend to specify difference by means of cultural and religious characteristics; instead of dissolving those categories, the narrations strengthen them. The article states the importance of literature in the mediation of knowledge, self-concepts, interpersonal perceptions and normative paradigms. KEYWORDS Othering, children’s literature, identity, religion, faith Biography Verena Eberhardt studied empirical cultural studies and German language and litera- ture at the University of Tübingen. She obtained her Master’s degree in the study of religion at the University of Munich (LMU), where she is currently working on a doc- toral thesis in the same field. Media – and among them literature – have a significant role to play in the transmission of world-views, values and norms to children and adolescents.1 Children’s books iterate, strengthen and reflect existing social structures. This article deals with children’s literature as it is concerned with, and constructs, “own” identities and “foreign” identities. The study examines the representa- 1 This article highlights the results of author’s unpublished Master’s thesis, Eberhardt 2017. DOI: 10.25364/05.4:2018.1.6