Page - 90 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01
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90 | Verena Eberhardt www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 81â99
lar group, on the one hand, and to form
the sense of belonging to the community,
on the other.24
Traditions and customs as well as ma-
terial culture keep communities to-
gether. This analysis focuses on cultur-
al semantics with regard to language,
tradition, clothing and interior design.
Language and lettering are impor-
tant factors in the construction of cul-
tural difference between own identi-
ties and foreign identities. The short
story âMwangaza und die Geschichte
mit dem Zahnâ was written in German
and complemented with sentences
in Kiswahili to represent the Tanza-
nian background: ââSala ya Watoto
wadogo, Mungu mwema nijalieâŠâ
This is Tanzanian language and means
that God may bless the children.â25 A
character in âBilal und die BlĂŒten des
Koransâ states, âBilal speaks German
very well. His parents were born in Ger-
many and attended school there.â26
Bilal, a third-generation descendant of
immigrants, is of course able to speak
German fluently. The mention of his
ability is deployed to mark otherness.
Similarly, the illustration of writing sys-
tems represents cultural difference.
Emma, a character in âLili und das chinesische FrĂŒhlingsfestâ, calls Chinese let-
ters âstrange signsâ (fig. 9).27 The author of âHuda bekommt ein BrĂŒderchenâ
uses Arabic letters and explains, âŰŁÙۧ ÙŰŻÙâ means âI am Hudaâ (fig. 10).28
In both text and illustration, traditions and customs are strongly linked with
otherness. The characters describe their activities in detail, which leads us to as-
24 Croitoru 2013, 28.
25 Ngonyani 2016, n. pag.
26 Zöller 2006, 87.
27 Yu Dembski 2016, n. pag.
28 Taufiq 2016, n. pag.
Fig. 9: Emma perceives Chinese letters as âstrange
signsâ in Yu-Dembski/Leberer (illust.), Lili und
das chinesische FrĂŒhlingsfest (n. pag.) © Carlsen
Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2011.
Fig. 10: Arabic language and lettering in Taufiq/
Spanjardt (illust.), Huda bekommt ein BrĂŒderÂ
chen (n. pag.) © Carlsen Verlag GmbH, Ham-
burg 2011.
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01
- Title
- JRFM
- Subtitle
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Volume
- 04/01
- Authors
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Editor
- Uni-Graz
- Publisher
- SchĂŒren Verlag GmbH
- Location
- Graz
- Date
- 2018
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Size
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Pages
- 129
- Categories
- Zeitschriften JRFM