From the Page to the Classroom, Crossing Borders
De la page à la classe, passer les frontières
Interculturality and Children’s Literature
Interculturalité et littérature jeunesse
Published on Monday, January 06, 2025
Abstract
This symposium is part of a research project focused on the critical analysis of the place of children’s and young adult literature in education on migration. It aims to compile critical bibliographies of picture books and novels for children and young adults dealing with migration, in order to determine to what extent these are pertinent tools to broach migratory issues with children and young people, whether they are migrant or of migrant parents themselves or not. The two strands of the project are: first, the literary analysis of the figure of the migrant in texts, in French and English, aimed at a young readership; then, the identification and deconstruction, in an educational context, of racialising biases that stem from a stereotyped creation of migrancy.
Announcement
Presentation
This symposium is part of a research project focused on the critical analysis of the place of children’s and young adult literature in education on migration. It aims to compile critical bibliographies of picture books and novels for children and young adults dealing with migration, in order to determine to what extent these are pertinent tools to broach migratory issues with children and young people, whether they are migrant or of migrant parents themselves or not. The two strands of the project are: first, the literary analysis of the figure of the migrant in texts, in French and English, aimed at a young readership; then, the identification and deconstruction, in an educational context, of racialising biases that stem from a stereotyped creation of migrancy.
The objectives of this research project encompass two fields: literature, through the creation of a critical bibliography of works of fiction on migration and the analysis of the representations of the migrant figure in children’s literature; as well as didactics, thanks to the production of tools for educators to identify and deconstruct stereotypes about the migrant figure in children’s literature and to give pedagogical, educational and didactical means to achieve a greater intercultural inclusivity.
This symposium follows a first instalment which took place in 2024 and adressed the stakes of interculturality in education, in a hybrid format (conference talks, workshops, resources library).
For this second instalment, we ambition once again to give opportunities for academics working on interculturality, professionals, and people concerned with these issues to meet and exchange ideas.
Argument
To consider interculturality as a working space is to think of the other as an integral part of my social world, to recognise them through what their uniqueness says of my own identity, to work on the building of bridges rather than walls. As societies are nowadays the reflection of a globalised world, made of chosen or forced movement, and as the number of migrant minors is regularly on the rise, any educator may wonder about the question of hosting the other, perceived as a stranger whether they are alien or not, and above all the question of the ability to welcome alterity.
In a context where the further training of working educators remains (very) sparse, where the topic of migration is envisaged as a societal issue, where education still has to continue, and where social bonds still have to be created, it is becoming urgent to raise the question of hosting, of support, and of the tools to discuss and put in practice this topic for professional educators (Robles-Mendelez & Henry, 2023).
These highly political issues strongly challenge our value system and our education model that may or may not contribute to promote hospitality (Agier, 2018). Within this context, we are constantly brought to question the representations of the other at work in our mindsets and our professional practice. Philip Nel (2017) exposed the underlying racism in works of children’s literature in English. The following questions are then raised: how are our mindsets built, when it comes to migration? What role does literature play in this construction? Are the materiality of the book and the artistic and visual opportunities that are offered as much by the object as by the text to be paralleled with the role played by literature in the representation of the migrant figure? (Stoyanov, 2020). Migration literature, through its interculturality, whether it be auctorial or characteristic of the fictional protagonists, challenges the social pertinence of borders through transnational writings: the migrant characters never cease to transform the definitions of home. We postulate that diversity is an intrinsic and valuable resource in our societies and that meeting the migrant-other invites us to work on our “hospitality” (Derrida & Dufourmantelle, 1997), an endeavour for which children’s literature, just like tales (Montandon, 2001), could be an efficient means (Brownlie & Abouddahab, 2021), despite some blindspots identified by Orgal et al (2021) and Durand et al (2021). This symposium aims to bridge theoretical approaches and roundtables on topics that lend themselves to the exercise.
It will revolve around the following strands:
Strand 1: Literary analysis of narratives and illustrations on interculturality in literature for children and young people, focusing on racialising stereotypes in children’s literature and their impact on the construction of a mindset about migration and the figure of the migrant.
Strand 2: Children's literature as a didactic tool to discuss migratory issues; its benefits, pertinence, limits.
Strand 3: Plurilingualism, in its literary representation and in the way it is discussed in educational contexts, in relation to migration.
For instance, papers may deal with:
- The study of picture books
- The impact of illustrations
- The study of Young Adult literature
- Translations in children’s and YA literature
- Racialising stereotypes in children’s and YA literature
- The figure of the migrant in literature for children and young people
- Issues linked to plurilingualism
- Children's migration literature
- Didactical approaches to interculturality with children’s literature
- Border studies
Studies may focus on various linguistic areas in children’s literature. Papers may be presented in French or in English.
Submission guidelines
This call is open to both researchers interested in the ways children’s literature questions interculturality and to authors whose works echo the abovementioned themes.
Abstracts (title and summary), along with a short bio and bibliography, should be no more than a page.
Please send them to Audrey Robitaillié (audrey.robitaillié@ict-toulouse.fr) and Patricia Mothes (patricia.mothes@ict-toulouse.fr)
before 15 February 2025.
Participants will be notified of acceptance by the beginning of March 2025.
The symposium will be take place on Wednesday 30 April 2025 at Institut Catholique de Toulouse.
Scientific coordination
- Audrey Robitaillié, UR CERES, ICT Toulouse
- Patricia Mothes, UR CERES, UMR EFTS , ICT Toulouse
Works Cited
AGIER, M. (2018). L'étranger qui vient : Repenser l'hospitalité. Média Diffusion.
ROBLES-MENDELEZ, W. & HENRY, A. (2023). Immigration and Children’s Literature: Stories, Social Justice, and Critical Consciousness. Bloomsbury.
BROWNLIE, S. & ABOUDDAHAB, R. (2021). Figures of the Migrant: the Role of Literature and the Arts in Representing Migration. Routledge.
DERRIDA, J. & DUFOURMANTELLE, A. (1997). De l’hospitalité. Calman-Lévy.
DURAND, E. S., GLENN, W. J., MOORE, D., GROENKE, S. L. & SCARAMUZZO, P. (2021) Shaping Immigration Narratives in Young Adult Literature: Authors and Paratextual Features of USBBY Outstanding International Books, 2006–2019. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 64 (6), 665-674.
MONTANDON, A. (2001). L’Hospitalité dans les contes. Presses Universitaires Blaise Pascal.
NEL, P. (2017). Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books. Oxford University Press.
ORGAD, S., LEMISH, D., RAHALI, M., & FLOEGEL, D. (2021). Representations of Migration in U.K. and U.S. Children’s Picture Books in the Trump and Brexit Era. Journal of Children and Media, 15(4), 549–567.
STOYANOV, H. (2020). Littérature de jeunesse contemporaine et représentation de la migration, Le romanesque au défi de l’histoire immédiate. Romanesques, Revue du Cercll 12, 111-124.
Subjects
Places
- Université catholique de Toulouse 31, rue de la fonderie
Toulouse, France (31)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Saturday, February 15, 2025
Attached files
Keywords
- migration, littérature jeunesse, racisme, altérité
Contact(s)
- Patricia Mothes
courriel : patricia [dot] mothes [at] ict-toulouse [dot] fr
Information source
- Patricia Mothes
courriel : patricia [dot] mothes [at] ict-toulouse [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« From the Page to the Classroom, Crossing Borders », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Monday, January 06, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/1308f
