NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1292744
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 15
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1521-7779
EISSN: N/A
The Palestinian "Other" in Israeli Children's Books
Danino-Yona, Gila
Journal of Children's Literature, v47 n1 p36-50 Spr 2021
This article examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as it is reflected in Israeli children's literature, utilizing critical, deconstructive, and postcolonial readings. Israel has been in a state of conflict with Palestinians since the day of its establishment. This ongoing conflict has found its way into Israeli children's books, many of which engage with the conflict or with the theme of "the other" in various ways. In this article, the author seeks to examine how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is represented within three books. For that purpose, the author utilizes deconstructionist analysis and postcolonial perspectives. Such analyses aim to expose the ideological practices that characterize the Israeli colonial systems, and that are designed to cover their tracks (Shenhav, 2004). More specifically, the author will present the way in which the illustrated landscapes echo the narratives of Israel's political left with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Palestinians as the "other" within these narratives. The author argues that--within the books analyzed in this article--stereotypical landscape images represent a "national" landscape, and therefore play a significant role in forming the national imagination in the context of the conflict. The author examines the visual construction of reality in the illustrations as reflecting the formation of a national identity--Israeli or Palestinian--including behaviors, thought processes, and discursive cultures. The author considers images and narratives jointly, as structures that meld meanings into a complete story, compatible with Israel's social and cultural reality. In general, the author seeks to answer the following questions: How do the books examined create a social hierarchy involving Jews and Palestinians? How is the Israeli--Palestinian conflict represented? How are Palestinians represented?
Children's Literature Assembly. e-mail: info@childrensliteratureassembly.org; Web site: https://www.childrensliteratureassembly.org/journal.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Israel; Palestine
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A