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Representations of Religion and Culture in Childrenâs Literature |
83www.jrfm.eu
2018, 4/1, 81â99
ground, nationality, religion and tradition, history and politics â the comprehen-
sive framework that we term culture is of central importance in the construction
of own and foreign identities. With the deconstructivist turn in the humanities,
classifications of race, ethnicity and gender lost their postulated naturalness.5
However, in social reality these categories do not occur as social constructs at
all times. Processes of ânaturalisationâ establish characteristics of foreign iden-
tities as unalterable and naturally constituted. In addition, ânaturalisationsâ are
often used to justify discrimination and exclusion. Difference and interpersonal
perceptions are generated not only by experience, but also by imagination and
concepts circulating in society.
Childrenâs and adolescent literature revises and strengthens prejudices and
interpersonal perceptions in an early phase of life. Conceptions of foreign identi-
ties are not scrutinised but instead iterated as prejudged. Prejudices reduce the
complexity of reality, are hard to modify and are linked with emotions. More-
over, prejudices coalesce with narratives, reports and personal anecdotes.6
Prejudices are similar to stereotypes, which are extenuated and undifferenti-
ated perceptual patterns that do not allow one to draw oneâs own conclusions.7
Whereas prejudices imply negative associations, stereotypes are utilised with
both negative and positive connotations. However, positive stereotypes con-
struct foreign identities just as do negative ones, for they oftentimes exoticise
and mystify foreign cultures and religions in discourses of fascination.
Media represent religious practices and cultural ways of life as well as own
identities and foreign identities in processes of othering and are conducive to
creating conceptions of the world.
THEORETICAL REALM AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
The following analysis of childrenâs books focuses on texts and illustrations that
represent signs and symbols encoded in the construction of own and foreign
identities. According to Stuart Hall and Paul Du Gay, ârepresentation is one of
the central practices that produces culture and a key âmomentâ in what has
been called the âcircuit of cultureâ.â8 The âcircuit of cultureâ (fig. 1) illustrates
how societies produce meaning in connection with representation, production,
regulation, consumption and identity. According to Hall,
Our âcircuit of cultureâ suggests that, in fact, meanings are produced at several dif-
ferent sites and circulated through several different processes or practices (the cul-
5 See Knapp/Klinger 2008, 10.
6 See Eickhorst 2007, 37.
7 See Krickau 2007, 16.
8 Hall/Evans/Nixon 2013, xvii.
JRFM
Journal Religion Film Media, Band 04/01
- Titel
- JRFM
- Untertitel
- Journal Religion Film Media
- Band
- 04/01
- Autoren
- Christian Wessely
- Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati
- Herausgeber
- Uni-Graz
- Verlag
- SchĂŒren Verlag GmbH
- Ort
- Graz
- Datum
- 2018
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Abmessungen
- 14.8 x 21.0 cm
- Seiten
- 129
- Kategorien
- Zeitschriften JRFM