Europäische Jugendbildungs- und Jugendbegegnungsstätte Weimar

Children's Books and Diversity: What do we learn from our very first Media?

Time required: 2 to 5 hours
Target group: adults; educational professionals, parents

Background

Children’s books, followed by films, are usually the first media that significantly influence children in Germany – mostly more than we are aware of. The characters from our childhood become heroes, shape what we assign to »good« and »bad«, what is considered the »norm«, what we should strive for in life and how we imagine realities of life that are not ours. Fairy tales, for example, were told to educate children and eventually written down. In this way, they carry the ideas and values of the authors with them and thus consciously and unconsciously into the next generation of children.

Procedure

We want to take a look at the influence of stories from our own childhood and analyze characters with their (colonial and patriarchal) heritage. To this end, we will draw on the analysis of Lisa Pychlau-Ezli and Özhan Ezli as well as Olaolu Fajembola and Tebogo Nimindé-Dundadengar, among others. Furthermore, this workshop will present different approaches to the discrimination-sensitive representation of diversity in books (especially own-voice books) and films. There will be the opportunity to look at children’s books on site.

Objective

The aim is to examine the impact of stories in childhood and to get to know different new approaches to designing children’s books in such a way that stereotyping is not reproduced and at the same time different realities of life are present. In longer workshop formats, how to talk with children about books can become a part of the program.

Please note

• The format, the amount of time and the specific focus will be adapted to the target group and objectives after consultation. Different focal points can also be set in the area of media and presentations.
• This workshop is also available as internal staff training for daycare centers, elementary school and other institutions that work with children between the ages of 3 and 12.
• The workshop can be held in German or English (also with German and English media) and can also be requested as an online offer.
• The educational programs can be compiled into project weeks.

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