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Filoteknos, vol. 14/2024Migration Narratives: Staying, Leaving, Returning, |
Spis treści
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-1
KATARZYNA JENDRZEY ORCID: 0009-0006-7518-8652
University of Duisburg-Essen
JESSICA SCHWITTEK ORCID: 0000-0003-1584-2246
University of Duisburg-Essen
DOROTA MICHUŁKA ORCID: 0000-0002-7237-2618
University of Wrocław
MATEUSZ ŚWIETLICKI ORCID: 0000-0001-7009-3837
University of Wrocław
Children’s and Young Adult Literature
as a Space for Reflection on Migration:
An Introduction to Thematic
and Narrative Perspectives
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-2
ANNA PIGOŃ ORCID: 0000-0002-3098-1888
University of Wrocław
Movement as a Structural Element
of Polish Novels for Girls
Abstract: Novels for girls constitute a unique genre of literature for children and young adults; its name indicates both the target group and the explicit educational purposes of these works. There are several main structural elements inscribed into novels for girls, one of them being rites of passage. One of the most common ways to exhibit the rite of passage trope (which symbolizes change and the process of maturing of the protagonist) is through movement. In this article, several novels for girls, both from the interwar and the contemporary period (e.g., by Maria Kruger, Kornel Makuszyński, Krystyna Siesicka, and Zofia Urbanowska) were analyzed in the light of their structure, revealing how migrations understood as movements are their fundamental feature and providing the answer as to why this is so. There are various types of migrations in which the heroines engage, such as escape (displaying the function of rebellion), mission (the act of helping one’s family, as a result of which the protagonist becomes an adult), or vacationing (during holidays – it is a variation on the popular theme from the novels for boys – centered around adventure). The effect of these movements consists in growing up, meaning that migration in novels for girls constitutes a special narrative device.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-3
DOROTA ŻYGADŁO-CZOPNIK ORCID: 0000-0002-3255-5217
University of Wrocław
The Stigma of Euro-Orphanhood
in the Book Fánek the Starsailor by Jana Šrámková
Abstract: The aim of the article is to analyze the artistic representation of the phenomenon of social euro-orphanhood in contemporary Czech children’s and youth literature. The starting point for these considerations is the work Fánek the Starsailor by Czech author Jana Šrámková. This literary piece serves as a foundation for an indepth reflection on labor migration as a multifaceted phenomenon encompassing social, economic, and psychological aspects. The analysis focuses on showcasing literature as a space that enables a better understanding of the complexity of this issue. In this way, the article seeks to enrich the interdisciplinary debate on the social impacts of labor migration, emphasizing the importance of literature as a crucial element in reflecting on this subject.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-4
JUSTYNA SZUMAŃSKA ORCID: 0000-0002-8345-7043
University of Wrocław
JUSTYNA ZAJĄC ORCID: 0000-0002-0265-3123
University of Wrocław
Burdensome Wanderings.
The road and the border motifs
in selected examples of recent children’s
and youth literature on migration
Abstract: The article reflects on the road and border motifs in selected examples of children’s and youth literature about migration. The analogy between the experiences of child refugees and the experiences of children of economic migrants (referred to as “passive migrants”) is outlined. According to the authors, the similarity of the experiences of the two distinguished groups presented in the prose promotes reader engagement and tames the audience with foreignness. Exposing in literary narratives the burdensome journey of migrants and the barriers they face, as well as the emotions (fear, helplessness, or despair) and problems they experience (such as loss of home, severed ties with family, a sense of misunderstanding and rejection by those around them, as well as the dream of having a “normal” life) can arouse empathy in the audience toward newcomers from distant continents, and thus help stop adiaphorization. Finally, it induces the addressees to take action, namely to assist those who need it.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-5
EWA KLĘCZAJ-SIARA ORCID: 0000-0003-3769-2728
Casimir Pulaski University of Radom
New Homes,
New Playgrounds for Inspiration –
The Migration Stories of African American Artists
in The Picturebook Format
Abstract: The aim of this paper to analyze the verbal and visual rhetoric of four picturebooks, Jacob Lawrence in the City (Rubin, 2009), Jake Make A World (RhodesPitts and Myers, 2015), The Block (Hughes and Bearden, 1995), and My Hands Sing the Blues (Harvey and Zunon, 2011), which tell the story of young Black artists – Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden – who find their new homes in New York’s Harlem in the context of the Great Migration. The narratives reveal how the artists perceive the unknown space, how they cross boundaries between the past and the present, and how they incorporate their new experiences into art. Drawing on the theory of “Black geographies” (McKittrick, 2007; Hawthorne, 2019) and “critical geographies of the home” (Blunt and Dowling, 1996), the paper explains how the picturebooks struggle with black despatialization and preserve the landscape created by African American migrants. It draws attention to the specific visual language of the books which recreates the atmosphere of the Black home in the urban environment. The analysis of the selected picturebooks is based on the visual grammar of Kress and Leeuwen (1996) and the working strategies of Painter (2014).
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-6
SVETLANA EFIMOVA ORCID: 0000-0002-4838-6454
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Therapeutic Writing Strategies
in Contemporary Ukrainian Children’s Books
about War and Refugee Experience
Abstract: In contemporary Ukraine, many children’s authors see it as a conscious goal of their books to help distressed and traumatized readers cope with war and refugee experience. Their intentions are documented in various paratexts. This article refers to creative strategies aimed at potential therapeutic effects on young readers as therapeutic writing strategies. It analyzes nine war-themed Ukrainian picturebooks for preschool- and elementary-school-age children, published after the outbreak of the Donbas war (2014) and especially after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The focus is on the visual representation of emotions, activity elements, and fairy tale structures. Drawing on cognitive literary criticism and studies of emotions in children’s literature, the analysis identifies verbal and visual strategies for encouraging and pre-structuring personal storytelling. Therapeutic writing strategies in contemporary Ukraine represent a new paradigm of engaged children’s literature, which responds to an acute social need to protect the mental health of the young generation in wartime.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-7
DARIA SEMENOVA ORCID: 0009-0001-6359-8586
Vilnius University
Old Home, New Home, Common Home:
War-Induced Internal Displacement
and Mental Maps of Ukraine
in Ukrainian Children’s Literature since 2014
Abstract: Ukrainian children’s literature has actively responded to the waves of displacement following Russia’s 2014 occupation of Crimea and the start of the war in the east of Ukraine and the 2022 full-scale invasion. The article looks at stories featuring internally displaced children and adolescents across age groups and genres. These children’s books both provide displaced children with relatable examples of coping with traumatic experiences and inform the children from the host regions, thereby preparing them for empathetic communication with the newcomers. The article argues that narratives of displacement contribute to a reconfiguration of the mental map of Ukraine offered by children’s literature, which previously favored locations considered worthy of tourist attention. Instead, Ukrainian children’s literature since 2014 provides imagery of a personal connection to a wider list of regions, including both the regions most affected by the warfare and the host regions. Finally, these books featuring IDPs emphasize the interrelation between regional and national identity and problematize the understanding of home. The concept of home is explored here at various levels, from the familial space to the space of immediate experiences in the hometown, to an environmentally distinct home region, and to a more abstract national homeland.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-8
LARISSA CAROLIN JAGDSCHIAN
University Paderborn
Flight Due to Climate Change
in Jostein Gaarder’s Novel 2084: Noras’s World
Abstract: This article deals with the topic of flight due to climate change using the example of the utopian youth novel 2084: Nora’s World. Unlike previous novels about flight, in this utopian book for young people, flight due to climate change is not conceptualized as leaving the old home and attempting to cross borders. Instead, the flight is told retrospectively. The focus is not on the experiences during the flight, but on the reasons for the flight: climate change. Climate change as the cause of the flight is told in two different time levels: In the narrated present and in the narrated future. But only in the narrated future the refugees flee due to climate change. Due to the logic of time, climate change as the cause of flight is presented as a changeable natural event. The article discusses how the novel is told about flight due to climate change and what significance the concept of time has for the young adult novel 2084: Nora’s World. So the article addresses an existing gap and, with reference to current theories of time, shows how flight due to climate change is narrated in the utopian young adult novel 2084: Nora’s World.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-9
MARÍA ALCANTUD-DÍAZ ORCID: 0000-0002-4188-3765
University of Valencia
“Will this be Home, or Will we Return one Day?”
Return Migration Themes
in Children’s Picturebooks,
Embracing Diversity and Acceptance
Abstract: This article examines the different categories of return migration in picturebooks targeted at young readers. Return migration, the process of individuals or families returning to their country of origin after residing abroad, is a multifaceted phenomenon with significant cultural, social, and psychological implications. This study conducts a basic thematic analysis of picturebooks that portray return migration scenarios. It examines how return migration is represented, the various categories it encompasses, and its potential effects on young readers. By examining the narratives presented in these picturebooks, this article seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of migration experiences within children’s literature and their broader societal implications, entailing the knowledge of fighting against poverty through migration and accepting diversity.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-10
DEEPALI AGARWAL
Room to Read India Trust
Climate Change and Refugees:
Images of Leaving and Returning
in A Home for the Hargila: Book Review
Abstract: This review discusses the visual layers in the graphic picturebook A Home for the Hargila by Nalini Ramachandran and Pankaj Saikia. The story follows three girls in Assam, India, and tells the story of the disappearance of the endangered “Hargila” birds (Greater Adjutant Storks) in the region due to climate change and human intervention, and their subsequent return. The review will discuss how visuals are used as a narrative technique in this picturebook to convey emotions and expressions related to migration, climate crises, leaving, and returning to the child reader.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-11
JANA MIKOTA
Siegen University
Migration in German-Language
Children’s Literature after 1945
Abstract: How is migration dealt with in German-language children’s and young adult literature? This article focuses on the development of West German children’s and young adult literature since the 1960s. During this period, the first labor migrants came to West Germany and children’s and young adult literature also turned to this topic. The question of who tells these stories also comes into focus. Selected key texts will be used to illustrate the changes in relation to migration in West German children’s and young adult literature.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-12
KATARZYNA JENDRZEY ORCID: 0009-0006-7518-8652
University of Duisburg-Essen
“Behind the Scenes”: Migration as (not) a Topic
in Children’s and Young Adult Books
from the Perspective of Polish
Lilliputian Publishers
Abstract: Children’s and young adult literature is seen as an astute and critical observer of societal conditions, social tensions, and processes of change, emphasizing the reciprocal relationship between literature and society. It is a medium acting as a diagnosis of the times, reflecting the real world of young readers while at the same time having the ability to question and deconstruct it. In this context, it is unsurprising that societal issues such as migration are increasingly being used as central motifs in children’s and young adult literature. Numerous analyses deal with this topic, with many considering books as an access point to experiences and objects of investigation. However, the production level is often overlooked. This article takes an alternative approach by adopting the perspective of children’s and young adult book publishers, who act as key figures in the field of literary production and whose decisions play a decisive role in shaping the range of literature on offer. Based on twelve interviews with Polish publishers belonging to the so-called Lilliputians, the study examines how publishers perceive migration as a literary theme. The analysis follows the methodological principles of grounded theory and identifies three central patterns of interpretation that explain why migration is considered a “difficult narrative” for Polish children’s and young adult literature. Migration is seen, on one hand, as a peripheral topic for Polish society and as a topic existing outside children’s world of experience, and on the other hand as a socially and politically tense and threatening issue. The analysis shows how children’s and young adult literature either incorporates or omits social phenomena and in doing so can have a deconstructive effect that could initiate social change. However, this transformative function of children’s and young adult literature has so far been used only to a limited extent, particularly regarding the topic of migration.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-13
EKATERINA SHATALOVA ORCID: 0009-0003-3999-5519
Aarhus University
Image of Migrants and Refugees
in Contemporary Russian Children’s Literature:
A Case Study of Alexey Oleynikov’s Works
Abstract: The war in Eastern Ukraine, which began in 2014 and accelerated after Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has resulted in the displacement of millions of people, including children, with over 1.2 million Ukrainian refugees recorded in Russia as of the end of 2023. In light of the increasing number of refugee narratives in children’s literature across the world, and in the wake of anti-immigrant policies and xenophobic attitudes towards migrants and refugees in Russia, this article analyses the representation of migrants and refugees in contemporary Russian children’s literature with special attention to the works of Alexey Oleynikov – Skazhi mne «Zdravstvuy!» [2015] and Bezhat’ Nel’zya Ostat’tsya [2021]. Focusing on both text and image, I inquire into discourses on authenticity and “otherness,” as well as agency and voice of migrants and refugees.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-14
KRYSTYNA SLANY ORCID: 0000-0002-1339-3689
Jagiellonian University
JUSTYNA STRUZIK ORCID: 0000-0003-3381-6180
Jagiellonian University
Migrant Children’s Agency in a Polish School
and Their Sense of Identity.
Based on the Results of the Project
Children Hybrid Integration: Learning Dialogue
as a way of Upgrading Policies of Participation (CHILD-UP)
Abstract: This article examines the agency of migrant children in Polish schools and their negotiation of hybrid identities in the context of national identification, drawing on qualitative research conducted within the CHILD-UP project (Children Hybrid Integration: Learning Dialogue as a way of Upgrading Policies of Participation). The study, conducted before the large influx of Ukrainian refugee children following Russia’s 2022 aggression, focuses on the challenges and conflicts migrant children face and the strategies they use to navigate school environments. The methodology included 27 in-depth interviews and six focus group discussions with migrant children aged 9–14, conducted across two regions in Poland. The research explored children’s agency in relation to peer interactions, conflict resolution, and their participation in school life, as well as the formation of hybrid identities through interactions with their host and home cultures. The findings highlight the importance of peer networks in fostering a sense of agency and belonging, as well as the significance of creating inclusive educational spaces that respect children’s diverse cultural backgrounds. The study underscores the relational and dynamic nature of agency, shaped by the interplay of individual autonomy and interdependence within the school environment. Hybrid identities are shown to emerge as fluid and negotiated constructs, reflecting children’s adaptation to complex socio-cultural contexts. This research contributes to understanding migrant children’s lived experiences and offers practical insights for the development of responsive and inclusive public policies in education. It also advocates for schools as dynamic spaces of intercultural dialogue, emphasizing the need for participatory approaches that empower migrant students and promote mutual understanding.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-15
KAROLINA SZYMBORSKA ORCID: 0000-0003-1907-3464
University of Białystok
Once Upon a Child…
Toward a Philosophy of Beginning
Abstract: This article offers a philosophical and literary theorization of the child’s relationship with time. The author explores how the dispute around the temporal nature of children in the philosophy of beginning influences children’s literature. The texts aimed at young readers play a significant role in shaping this debate and building the ontological concept of a child being toward time. This debate is vital to evolving child time archetypes: puer disputationi, puer aevum, puer aeternum, and puer tempus. These archetypes signify a shift in our understanding of the child’s relationship with time and its finitude. Moving beyond the classical opposition of being and becoming, the author introduces the concept of emergence, referring to the process of forming new and complex temporal patterns of childhood.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-16
ALEXANDRA KÖNIG ORCID: 0000-0003-1439-1156
University of Duisburg-Essen – Full Professor of Research on Socialization
JESSICA SCHWITTEK ORCID: 0000-0003-1584-2246
University of Duisburg-Essen
KATARZYNA JENDRZEY ORCID: 0009-0006-7518-8652
University of Duisburg-Essen
Beyond the Pages: Children’s and Young Adult
Literature and Sociological Research
Through the Dodzi Project
Alexandra König in an Interview
with Jessica Schwittek and Katarzyna Jendrzey
Professor Dr. Alexandra König is based at the University of Duisburg-Essen, at the Institute for Educational Science, where she leads the Work Group Socialization Research. Her research focuses on childhood and family studies, with a particular emphasis on the question of what is understood as “good parenthood” and “good childhood” in different societies. These research interests led to the development of the DoDzi project, for which she assumes the leadership of the sociological research component.
Filoteknos, vol. 14 • 2024 • DOI: 10.23817/filotek.14-17
DOROTA MICHUŁKA ORCID: 0000-0002-7237-2618
University of Wrocław
Technologisation, Multimodality,
Performativity and Agency – Challenges
for Contemporary Humanities Education
Review of Technopaideia. Zaawansowane technologie w edukacji humanistycznej
ed. by Sebastian Borowicz and Joanna Hobot-Marcinek, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 2024, pp. 412.
Abstract: This article is a review of Technopaideia. Zaawansowane technologie w edukacji humanistycznej, a volume edited by Sebastian Borowicz and Joanna Hobot-Marcinek (2024), which addresses the issue of technologisation of humanities education in a thoughtful and mature manner: it takes into account the interdisciplinarity of research within the humanities, exposes the combination of theory and practice, agency, proactivity and engagement, and draws attention to the improvement of new competence related to the technological challenges of the contemporary world and the broadly understood transformation in the process of reality perception (from linear narrative to – digital, hypertextual, practical, laboratory).
