Page - 82 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

82 | Verena Eberhardt www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 81–99 tion of identities in the context of immigration and religion and argues that in children’s books the negotiation of values such as tolerance often paradoxically strengthens and generalises differences such as religious ones. Moreover, it il- lustrates modes of representation and views of cultural and religious identities in contemporary children’s literature from the perspective of religious studies. Children’s and adolescent books articulate social communication for a spe- cific biographical phase. Whereas children’s books address readers aged six to twelve, adolescent literature is written for teenagers. Storybooks, produced for children between the ages of three and eight, tend to be educational and are characterised by thematic redundancy. Children’s literature often has a peda- gogical aim; it is intended to mediate norms, paradigms and images of society. The article begins by outlining a theoretical framework where the concept of othering plays a central role. In a second step, after a short discussion of methodology, the results of an examination of selected children’s books are presented. The analysis highlights othering processes in the representation of own and foreign culture and religion. OTHERING, OWN IDENTITIES AND FOREIGN IDENTITIES Constructions of own identities and foreign identities are imagined processes of demarcation that categorise individuals and groups as belonging to or not belonging to social systems. These processes of othering express constructions of identities. The analysis of children’s literature illustrates that foreign identi- ties are more clearly constituted than own processes of belonging. Conceptions of own and foreign identities are narrative and iconographic constructs which become manifest in delineations, judgments and classifications of persons and groups.2 Own identities are formulated via demarcation and differentiation from im- agined foreign identities. Furthermore, foreign identities do not exist per se, but arise in confrontations between the familiar and the unknown, the confi- dent and the unconfident.3 According to Stuart Hall, the representation of for- eign identities does not occur uniquely but rather recurs in an identical or similar manner across media such as television, books or magazines. The intertextual accumulation of meaningful conceptions strengthens the representation of particular groups as different and foreign.4 Written and visual media are essential mediums of images, ideas and knowl- edge. Media devise foreign identities by means of categories such as back- 2 See Gernig 2001, 19. 3 See Gernig 2001, 15. 4 See Hall 2004, 111–112.