Abstracts, Seminar 19 |
The abstracts are copied as received. |
Living in times of hardship: under war, suppression, deprivation, in exile, etc. ...
Professor, Ph.D. Pedro Cerrillo Torremocha , Spain Assistant Professor Christina Canamares Torrijos, Spain
• “Telling the War and Saving the World in the Space of the Book: “Ynari” by Ondjaki - from Angola to the world” (Abstract 52) Professor Cláudia Sousa Pereira, Portugal
• “Overcoming the Hardships of Life throrugh the Revealing Soothing and Even Magical Effect of Words” (Abstract 81) Writer Christina Colombo, Argentine
• “Reflections about Peace in Time of Hardship in Israeli Children´s Literature” (Abstract 99) Dr. Celina Mashiach, Israel
• „Austrian Writers remembering their Childhood in World War Two and the Following Years” (Abstract 110) Mag. Dr. Sabine Fuchs, Austria
Television journalist & writer Luciana Savaget, Brazil
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War in Picture Books
CRISTINA CAÑAMARES TORRIJOS PEDRO C. CERRILLO TORREMOCHA CEPLI UCLM SPAIN Cristina.Canamares@uclm.es
Many books of Children's Literature focus on the representation of war in order to bring up the topic of peace and no violence. In this proposal we will study, through some examples, how war is presented to children –mainly to the youngest– and most of all, we want to draw our attention on the explanations about war offered in this books. These stories could help to understand how war means to a reader who, in the moment of facing the text, doesn't know what is war or only knows it by media. First of all we want to refer to previous research about this subject. We have to stand out Gillian Lathey (1999) who studied different children's books about war. This author didn't included picture books in that research because these books need a separated treatment because combine picture and text. In previous research different authors examined this theme in detail and concluded that war is the mainly topic in very little picture books. In this kind of books that focused in war the treatment doesn't constitute a testimony or memory by real facts, is more an opposition and refusal to violence actions. In this paper, the previous research will be completed and exemplified with the study of two emblematic picture books: one revolves around Spanish Civil War ( Ferdinando el toro by Munro Leaf) and another written by a Spanish author ( Flon Flon y Musina by Elzbieta).
CURRICULUM VITAE: Pedro C. CERRILLO TORREMOCHA Ph.D. in Hispanic Philology. Professor of Didactics of Language and Literature at the Faculty of Education and Humanities in Cuenca ( University of Castilla La Mancha). Professor Pedro Cerrillo is Director of the Centre of Research for the Promotion of Reading and Children's Literature in Cuenca ( Spain ) and member of the European Research Program Only Connect . He supervises a number of PhD students, teaches Undergraduate and Master programmes in the area of Children's Literature Studies in Castilla La Mancha University and is also Director of the MA Promotion of Reading and Children's Literature . He has imparted many Seminars both in Spanish and foreign universities, and has published numerous articles in Spanish and foreign Journals and newspapers, for which he has been awarded Second Best Critical Researcher in National Children's Literature, an award of the Cultural Goverment Office.
Cristina CAÑAMARES TORRIJOS Ph.D. in Hispanic Philology. Assistant Professor of Didactics of Language and Literature, Faculty of Education and Humanities in Cuenca ( University of Castilla La Mancha). She works in the Centre of Research for the Promotion of Reading and Children's Literature in Cuenca ( Spain ). Cristina Cañamares has attended a number of perfectionist courses related to Children's Literature in Spain and abroad such as the Postgraduate Course “Specialist on Promotion of Reading” (UCLM, Spain) , M.A. Promotion of Reading and Children's Literature (UCLM, Spain) and Children's Literature International Summer School (Roehampton University, London). She has also participated in a lot of conferences in Spain and abroad where she has contributed with papers of her own research.
Cristina Cañamares Torrijos CEPLI UCLM Avda. de los Alfares, 44 16071 Cuenca (España – Spain ) Telf: +34 969179100 Ext. 4330 Fax: + 34 969179107
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Telling the war and saving the world in the space of the book: Ynari by Ondjaki, from Angola to the World.
Abstract: When a country is devastated by a war that affects not towers or buildings, but small rural villages and kills many people and kills and mutilates many children, endangering its own future, their inhabitants have a story to tell to the rest of the world. It is the case of the young author from Angola Ondjaki who, hand in hand with the illustrator Danuta Wojciechowska, gives to young readers a tale in Portuguese language which tells us the story of Ynari, the little girl of the five braids . Even if we have in nowadays society, mainly in big cities, many Portuguese young citizens whose parents were from Angola and escaped from this particular war, the images of war in general arrive to Portuguese children as something that happens somewhere far away. The form of the literary tale on one hand pushes the reader towards an Once upon a time moment, but on the other hand brings the child to a hopeful world where everything is possible. In this particular book, not only Peace is given a chance but it also depends on the goodwill of a little girl who doesn't know exactly the meaning of her existence, having these five braids that she cannot undo. In this conference we will go through the words and illustrations of this marvellous book and we will propose a literary reading path to be presented to young readers.
Biographical data: Cláudia Sousa Pereira (1967) is a professor in the University of Évora , Portugal , Department of Linguistics and Literatures. She has studied Modern Languages and Literatures (French and Portuguese). She has a post graduation in Medieval Literature. She had her PhD in Portuguese Literature in 2000, with the study of a chivalry book of the 16 th century entitled Memorial of the Feats of the Second Round Table (J. Ferreira de Vasconcelos), a novel dedicated to the young king D. Sebastião. She teaches Oral Literature and Children's Literature and she also develops her research in the area of Children's Literature and Reading Promotion . She has publications in this area in Portugal and abroad (DIOGÈNE nº 198, avril-juin 2002; OCNOS , Revista de Estudios sobre Lectura do Centro de Estudos de Promoción de la Lectura y Literatura Infantil, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2005; António Botto», «Aquilino Ribeiro» Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature, Jack Zipes, Editor in Chief). She participates in several research projects individually or as a member of the CIDEHUS – UE, an interdisciplinary research centre of the University of Évora . She is a member of the APPLIJ (Portuguese Association for the Promotion of Children's Literature), the Portuguese section of the IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People). Contact details: Mailing address: Prof. Cláudia Sousa Pereira CIDEHUS-EU Universidade de Évora - Palácio do Vimioso Apartado 94 7002-554 Évora PORTUGAL
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LIVING IN TIMES OF HARDSHIP: UNDER WAR, SUPPRESSION, DEPRIVATION, IN EXILE, ETC
The beginning of the new millenium seemed to bring along with it the deep feeling that man was at last starting to understand what the word "humanity" implied. But nearly a decade has gone by and notwithstanding that hopeful approach little has been attained. Although science and techolology rival to offer mankind comfort and progress their potential and actual dual - use has infected all fields of life. Consequently, man is not at rest. He struggles immersed in a world where war, deprivation, pornography, slavery, misunderstanding, hunger, disruption, etc, are rife.Neither children are free form experiencing pain, grief and dispair. The treatment that is in store for them is contempt, impatience, indifference and neglect. Nevertheless, in the course of time, children`s literature has increasingly become a refuge as the realm of freedom offering a universe of everlasting values and certainties amidst the present confusion and strife. Our country, Argentina , has not been an exception as regards the actual state of affairs. In the last decades our men and women have suffered under certain conditions: dictatorships, economic upheavals, rampant violence and failed civil leadership that have turned our citizens into hostages in their own land. In this distorted picture, children`s literature has endeavoured to bring to surface the suffering and everyday struggle, failures and accomplishments of our society in numerous examples, at the same time trying to overcome the hardships of life through the revealing, soothing and even magical effect of words.
CRISTINA COLOMBOe-mail: leacolombo@ciudad.com.ar
I am an Argentine writer. I have published novels and poetry for adults and children. I have also made a contribution to the Seville IBBY Congress (1992) and in other countries at well. I have also been a Bookbird editor. You can know more about me in my website:
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War and Peace : Reflections about Peace in time of Hardship, in Israeli Children's Literature
Dr. Celina MashiachThe inception of modern Hebrew Children's Literature coincided with the birth of the modern Jewish nation. A nation that greatly depended upon the revival of Hebrew ancient language , and its transformation into a modern , communicable means of expression. Shared stories, ethoses and narratives were re-coded in the new-ancient language which became a linkage and a bond between adults, children and books . In this sense , Hebrew Children's Literature represents a unique historical phenomena in its contribution to the most dramatic event in Jewish modern history. Story and history were thus tightly intertwined in order to both reflect history , shape and reshape it .
The history of the state of Israel is punctuated by wars . It is not the purpose of my paper to deal with political issues but rather to let the voice of peace be heard , through its literary manifestations. The echo of this manifestation in Israeli Children's Literature holds a concise mirror upon the consciousness of both adults and children. It reflects in a very special manner the time of hardship, by rejecting war, and advancing the idea of a better world coined by peace.
Two completely different literary devices are being employed in order to articulate the voice of peace. My paper will describe these devices , as manifested in children's stories of the 40's and 50's and its avant - gard and unique manifestation in present day children's books, where actual history is reflected in a manner unknown as yet , creating a whole new genre.
The main point of my thesis is that while story is not necessarily history, it still reflects actual events , even if fictionally . Reflections about peace in time of hardship, , acknowledges the pains of actual history , but at one and the same time advances the portrayal of an alternative , fictional actuality , which is nevertheless as true as the real one.
Dr. Celina Mashiach . Jerusalem .
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Austrian Writers work on their childhood in World War Two and the following years
World War Two – for young children – it's a long time ago and difficult to imagine. And there are few people who can tell their own story in a way that young people are attracted in a way so that they are interested in this topoc. So it is even more important nowadays than years before to publish experiences from this time. And Austrian writers, like Käthe Recheis , Christine Nöstlinger and Renate Welsh , began to write down their different stories really early and till now – especially for young readers, and in a kind that all readers are attracted.
In this short presentation I want to give an overview about the different sorts of telling one's own experiences in war- and postwar-times from Austrian writers. The second aspect is to look at the other texts of the autors and if their message deals with their own history, and finally I want to show different ways to work with these books in schools or libraries.
Sabine Fuchs , born 1961 in Graz, Mag. Dr., diploma in Graz, final thesis at TU-Berlin about Christine Nöstlinger, secondary school teacher and since 1993 visiting lecturer at Institut für Germanistik der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz with special courses about children's literature and media; she is editor and writer of different articles about children's literature; leason secretary of IBBY in Austria and member of the Austrian Sociaty of Children's Literature Research.
Sabine Fuchs Nikolaus Schönbacher Straße 28/1 8052 Graz Phone: 0043-699-11648114 Fax: 0043-316-570815 Mail: sabine.fuchs1@utanet.at
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War X Books - T he drug traffic in Brazilian slums.
I'm Luciana Savaget, a television journalist and writer of children's books. I usually begin my talks by paying tribute to our non-readers, who at this moment are in many parts of the world. As involuntary witnesses, and even more, as innocent victims of a war, which like all wars, makes no sense. If these children in Iraq , Palestine , Israel , Afghanistan , Pakistan , Sudan , Haiti , Colombia , and Brazil ... had had the chance to dream, through us, makers of dreams, children's writers, these wars would certainly be less likely to exist. Because words are a very powerful weapon. Dialogue makes us reflect. Culture and education aren't just abstract concepts, but rather concrete and basic values. For this reason, our role as writers of children's books and multipliers of the incentive to read is often more important than we can imagine. It doesn't only depend on us, I know, but it depends a lot on our winning this struggle of dreams against human folly. Books convince us of the need for peace, and lead us into solidarity. There lies the power of words. In Brazil , the figures show the extension of this undeclared war. Recent official data from the Brazilian Geographic and Statistical Institute (IBGE) show that in twenty years, the homicide rates in the large Brazilian population centers have increased one hundred thirty percent. Six hundred thousand murders were recorded between nineteen eighty and the year two thousand, that is, thirty thousand victims a year.
The Brazilian figures are dramatic because the victims are male young people between 15 and 24 years of age, most of them killed by firearms. Violence against young people has become an epidemic in our country. We live among bloody but silent conflicts, unnoticed by the international community.
Just in Rio de Janeiro around 22 people are killed every day. This is a different war from the one we read about daily in the newspapers, it's not a dispute over territory, oil or religious... It's a dispute over the economic power of drugs, of the drug traffic, of chemical domination, which acts very efficiently, especially on the developing minds of younger people. It's a war which is hidden in the alleys of the slums spread throughout the entire city of Rio and which recruits as “soldiers” children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 16. Many of these young people haven't even had the opportunity to attend school. In this way their childhood is stolen, and they're forced to enlist in this unjust battle without any ideological reason, but for their survival.
I see my work, be it as a journalist or a fiction writer, as a mission. In journalism I transmit reality, but in literature I build dreams. I've traveled throughout Latin America as a journalist, and I've been to the United States and to Europe many times. More recently, I've been to the Middle East, where I witnessed a terrible bomb attack in Amman , Jordan … I've seen many different cultures and written about them, both as a journalist and a fiction writer. But not even the awards I've won carrying out these two missions have touched me as much as the work I do with young men and women who live in the slum Favela da Maré, in Rio de Janeiro, trying to keep them away from crime through literature. This is the greatest challenge of my personal and professional life.
As a journalist and writer of children's books, for more than ten years I've been passing through areas of absolute poverty and much violence in the city of Rio , where I live, taking along what I believe to be the best antidote for this violence: dreams. Until four years ago I used to go alone to tell stories in some of these slums. I often found myself in difficult situations, having to negotiate with armed drug traffickers in order to enter these communities, trying to prove that my mission was a peaceful one. I was going there just to take the fantasy I borrowed from books. My goal was to tell stories to those children who learned early in life, what violence is.
Currently I'm taking part in a project called Vida Real (Real Life), that's being done in the Maré Complex, also known as the Maré slum, located in the north part of the city of Rio de Janeiro . Maré, as most slums, doesn't appear on the city maps.
(video showing Maré)
Maré isn't just one favela, but several of them together. Sixteen communities coexist just like different parts of a city, each with its own characteristics. One hundred and thirty two thousand one hundred and seventy six people (132.176) live there, in thirty eight thousand two hundred and seventy three (38.273) homes. This represents two point twenty six percent (2,26%) of the population of the city of Rio de Janeiro .
Maré was built over the waters of the Guanabara Bay . The houses used to be what is called palafitas, which means that they were built over sticks to remain above the level of the water. A lot of people lived like this for years, but the favela grew so much that the sea disappeared.
The project Vida Real has existed for four years. It began as an initiative of a former drug dealer, former junkie, that after going through some very difficult times decided to abandon his life of crimes and help young people lead more dignified lives. He is not supported by any government and doesn't belong to any NGOs. He counts only with the work of volunteers. At the moment he is helping 40 teenagers between the ages of thirteen and fifteen.
They've all had contact with illegal activities. Some steal cars, carry guns and commit small crimes around the area. They've all used drugs as well. They don't know the name of the mayor of Rio or of the State's governor, but they know the difference between one type of gun and another. And they've never owned a book.
The project takes place in a small three-room house in the outskirts of the slum, a part called Nova Holanda (New Holland). Several donations have enabled us to create a library, which currently has 1300 books. Little by little we're getting these boys and girls used to reading. They've never had an opportunity to listen to stories of fairies, princes, flying carpets… Once a week, in a risky operation – because to enter a favela is always dangerous – we ask the permission of the drug dealers and criminals that control that place so that I can do my job and work with the reading skills of those teenagers. First I made them understand the importance of a book. They chose a couple of them to touch. I asked them to do this because I wanted them to gain intimacy with the books. And them I began getting them used to making reading part of their routine.
The strain of a young man or woman who lives in an area full of violence shows itself in their learning difficulties. They can't concentrate, can't sleep well and don't eat right, which makes them suffer from depression. The attention span of a teenager that lives in these conditions is the same as that of a child between the ages of three and four.
Every one of them has had a friend or relative killed by the police or in conflicts among the drug dealers. Their fears are not the same as the fears of a normal teenager. The monster that scare them isn't described in books. It's not a witch or a big bad wolf. It's the police car that enters the favela killing aimlessly, called Caveirão- the big skall. The Caveirão is meant to intimidate the drug dealers, but it only kills, and never arrests anyone.
(Video)
The four doors are automatically locked and can't be opened from the outside.
This currently is the safest way for police officers to enter favelas. The vehicle weighs eight tons and reaches a speed of one hundred and twenty kilometers per hour.
To attack the criminals, which possess really heavy weapons, the officers use only rifles.
With the protection of the armor-clad cars, the officers reach the most risky places of the favela.
On top of a armor-clad car, an eleven-year old boy pretends to shoot a weapon during a police operation in the favela of Rocinha.
These are the drawings of the Caveirão that the kids have made for me.
When the armor-clad car enters the favela, the officers use hostile and imperious words. The threats and insults traumatize the inhabitants of the favelas, and the children are especially vulnerable. Speakers on the outside of the vehicle announce its arrival: “Children, get off the street, the shooting is about to star”. Or, in a more threatening manner: “If you owe, I'll get your soul”. When the Caveirão approaches someone, the officers yell through the speakers: “Hey, you! You're a suspect! Walk slowly, lift up your shirt, turn around… now you can go.”
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The teenagers are not the only ones that have been learning with the stories I tell – I've also been receiving life lessons from them. I learned how to understand the pain and lack of hope of these kids, who have to work for the drug dealers because they're not given any other choices. I've learned to be afraid, very afraid of the police, which can't keep these people safe.
It's in this reality that we try, through the dreams described in the books, to make things easier for these teenagers. My reading classes are as simple as reading a book or telling a story. Every story has its characters, and so does mine.
As a consequence of the war that is being fought in two fronts – Iraq and Palestine – I've written my two latest books: Operation Rescue in Baghdad and Operation Rescue in Jordan . They talk about a side of this conflict to which few pay attention: the threat to these people's dreams. Living without dreaming is like suffering in an arid desert. In order to rescue the fantasies to which all human beings are entitled, I created ISRI – the International Society for the Rescue of Imagination, which has sent its agents to Baghdad to save nothing less than two thousand two hundred and twenty characters!
Due to these books, I've had the opportunity and joy to travel to Palestine , invited by the IBBY representative in that long-suffering land, Jehan Halou. She created Institute Tamer, which is releasing an Arab translation of Operation Rescue in Baghdad in Palestinian schools.
During my stay in Palestine , I gave a series of lectures in Ramallah and Bethlehem . I've met children who live, or try to live, in that area shattered by this war, which is as absurd as any war. I've seen their suffering personally and traced a parallel to the suffering of the children who live, or try to live, in Favela da Maré. Both cultures and both wars are different, but the fear and the pain are alike. In both places, the children are the greatest victims.
I'm going to read to you some statements given by the children of Palestine and Favela da Maré. The link between them is and unjust, unjustifiable and intolerable violence:
Shirine - 8 years old “Yesterday, the Israeli soldiers arrived in my street shooting everything and everybody with their machine guns. Everybody in my family was working, and I was alone in the house. I cried and cried. I was so afraid. My neighbor was killed. I want peace, less violence in the world.”
Ramon is a Brazilian boy who is twelve and wrote to me: “Yesterday, the police invaded the slum. Bullets flew everywhere. The family that lived next door to me was killed. I don't want to be afraid. What would I do to change this place? I would take away all guns and all drugs. When I grow up, I want to be the owner of a chocolate factory. But I would do anything to change the world.
Marwa Hazin is a ten-year-old Palestinian girl “I have a dream, just like anybody else, but it's an impossible dream. I'm a Palestinian girl, and I dream about living in peace. I hope to live at least one minute in peace. We, Palestinians, are robbed of that. Everyday I see on television soldiers killing children, houses being blown up by Israeli soldiers. I'm afraid to live here, and living here, I'm afraid to be afraid.”
Pedro, 15 years old, was Born and raised in a part of Favela da Maré that is so violent that it's called the Gaza Strip. “I've been living in Maré ever since I was born, 15 years ago. I like it here. Even though I live in the Gaza Strip, where there are lots of shootings. What I hate most here is the crimes that happen all the time. I know all the bad guys from around here. My brother worked for drug dealers in Belford Roxo. He died when he was my age. I've lost two cousins, two brothers and an uncle, all because of drug dealing. I've done drugs and I know people who do them all the time. These people are nice in spite of that. My greatest dream is to be a soccer player. I want all politicians to disappear, because they steal too much. I don't know what I would do to change to world. All I want is peace.”
The fears and sufferings of children are the same, be it in Palestine or Brazil . To fight against them, I believe in a powerful weapon: literature, because literature teaches you to dream again. In order for it to be efficient, it's necessary that the writer become a militant of literature, and not only a writer that thinks of nothing else but his or hers own creations. In my last novel – Operation Rescue in Jordan – I narrate the experiences that I underwent during my trip to the Middle East , where I went to search for Aladdin's lamp, because I'm sure magic can help us end all wars.
For the finale, the boys and girls from Favela da Maré have written a message to all of us.
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