Page - 84 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

84 | Verena Eberhardt www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 81–99 tural circuit). Meaning is what gives us a sense of our own identity, of who we are and with whom we “belong” – so it is tied up with questions of how culture is used to mark out and maintain identity within and difference between groups.9 In order to examine the representation of own identities and foreign identities as well as the production of knowledge systems and narrative positions, the analysis here refers to the areas representation and identity. The article focuses on the construction of own identities and foreign identities, hence the literature is interpreted from a discourse analytical perspective. Dorien Van De Mieroop explains: “From a discursive perspective, the fluid nature of collective identity is emphasized, which means that every individual shifts in and out of diverse mem- berships in a multitude of social groups, resulting in a wide variety of potential collective identities that are each interactively constructed and negotiated.”10 I have chosen this methodological approach since discourse analysis is based on the assumption that societies construct reality, allowing one to analyse pro- tagonists, identities, knowledge systems and power structures. THE REPRESENTATION OF RELIGION AND CULTURE IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE The following analysis is based on two books in which cultural and religious identities in Germany play a central role. In their approach to religion, they are representative of a whole range of children’s literature where religions are de- picted as institutions, inspired by “world religion” classifications and combined with representations of otherness in the context of migration.11 Furthermore, 9 Hall/Evans/Nixon 2013, xix. 10 Van De Mieroop 2015, 410. 11 See Eberhardt 2017, 25. Fig. 1: The “circuit of culture” according to Stuart Hall/Paul Du Gay 2013, xvii.