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Representations of Religion and Culture in Childrenâs Literature |
93www.jrfm.eu
2018, 4/1, 81â99
FAITH AND RELIGION
The analysisâs approach to faith and religion assumes a non-restrictive concept of
religion. However, the authors of the books examined here use institutionalised
conceptions of religion. Specifically. the narrations refer to Catholic Christianity,
Jewish traditions and Islamic ways of life. The short story âLili und das chinesische
FrĂŒhlingsfestâ mentions various gods; they are set in a context that is not reli-
gious but national. Religion is displayed as something special and uncommon as
the characters learn about religious traditions on festive days and at celebrations.
The books discussed here presuppose either a Protestant or a general, unspe-
cific Christian perspective. In Lara Lustig und der liebe Gott, we read, âMost of us
are Protestant, like me. Only four are Catholic.â31 The story âLena feiert Pessach
mit Almaâ juxtaposes Jewish Pessach and Christian Easter. Own identities are
clearly conceptualised as Christian: ââPessach is the Jewish festival of the mat-
zah, we Jews celebrate it at the same time you celebrate Easterâ, Alma explains
smiling.â32 Religious otherness is constructed by using unknown terms: ââThe
most important Jewish festivities are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot; Ha-
nukka, Pessach and Purim also belong to it.â âStrange words!â, Louis shouts.â33
The reader identifies religious rituals and festivities as unusual as they are
pointed out with exoticising comments:
Everybody was dressed nicely: the girls with long white dresses, with flowers and
floral wreaths in their hair, the boys in dark suits. And each child holds a beautifully
31 Zöller 2006, 7.
32 Halberstam 2016, n. pag., emphasis in original.
33 Zöller 2006, 53. Fig. 16: Representing the grandmotherâs Muslim
identity in Taufiq/Spanjardt (illust.), Huda
bekommt ein BrĂŒderchen (n. pag.) © Carlsen
Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2011.
Fig. 17: Jewish fashion and clothing in Halber-
stam/SpÀth (illust.), Lena feiert Pessach mit Alma
(n. pag.) © Carlsen Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2011.
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