CFP - Special Issue of Humanities: Children’s Narratives as Transnational Cultural Heritage
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO A SPECIAL ISSUE OF HUMANITIES, an international, peer reviewed, open access journal (http://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities)
Children’s Narratives as Transnational Cultural Heritage
Children’s narratives have often been thought to sum up national character: Nils Holgersson as an introduction into Swedish landscapes and cultures, Heidi as the epitome of "Swissness," Hansje Brinker as a prototypical Dutch hero, etc. It is important to realize, however, that they became national icons in the eyes of non-Swedish, –Swiss and – Dutch audiences, through transnational reception, adaptation and remediation: Heidi, for example, exemplified the Swiss way of life in the eyes of a German audience. Familiarizing children with and involving them in these ongoing processes of creative transnational appropriation may help them to deconstruct national stereotypes. Positively put, it may help them to feel at home in "a wider circle of we" that allows for the coexistence of local, national and transnational identifications. Contemporary citizens may well identify simultaneously as, for instance, Bavarians, Germans, and Europeans. Heritage narratives for children may facilitate the development of such a poly-local, multidimensional sense of belonging in today’s globalizing world. Young and adult readers also actively contribute to these processes of adaptation and remediation as co-creators of heritage by, for example, participating in fan cultures, as a significant dimension of their emergent citizenship.
The aim of this special issue is to explore the viability of childhood heritage for citizenship education of 8-12-year-olds in a globalizing, multi-ethnic Europe. It seeks to address issues such as: 1) How are children’s (non-)fictional narratives constructed as local, regional, national and/or transnational heritage through dynamic processes of adaptation and remediation? 2) How can childhood heritage institutions such as museums, archives and international advocacy organizations facilitate transnational appropriations of aesthetic and educative artefacts? 3) How can children be actively engaged in the process of heritage construction as a significant dimension of their emergent citizenship?
Papers may address topics such as:
- the trope of home in children’s narratives: stories beyond the “home-away-home” plot described by Perry Nodelman in The Pleasures of Children’s Literature
- children’s texts in an imagological perspective
- transnational fan practices related to children’s narratives
- transnational memory in children’s literature
- children’s narratives as materials for citizenship education
- children and/or young adults as active participants in heritage construction
- children’s literature as national and transnational heritage in institutional contexts (museums, heritage libraries, etc.)
- international organizations advocating children’s narratives as media for fostering international understanding
Length of the article: 6000-7000 words
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging into this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.
The Article Processing Charges (APCs) of 350 CHF (Swiss Francs) per published paper are fully funded by institutions through the Knowledge Unlatched initiative, resulting in no direct charge to authors. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- children’s narratives
- childhood heritage
- citizenship education
- poly-local citizenship
Guest Editors
Prof. Dr. Lies Wesseling
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Centre for Gender and Diversity, Maastricht University Grote Gracht 80, 6211 SZ Maastricht, The Netherlands
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Interests: cultural construction of childhood in fiction and science; narrative models for forging kinship in global adoption; the selling, forgetting and remembering of child removal in the Dutch East Indies in the (post-)colonial Netherlands.
Dr. Justyna Deszcz-Tryhubczak
Institute of English Studies, Center for Young People’s Literature and Culture, University of Wrocław, ul. Kuźnicza 22,50-138 Wrocław, Poland
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Interests: contemporary children’s literature and culture; childhood studies; participatory research
Mr. Mateusz Marecki
Institute of English Studies, Center for Young People’s Literature and Culture, University of Wrocław, ul. Kuźnicza 22,50-138 Wrocław, Poland
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Interests: cognitive poetics; literary and musical emotions; contemporary children’s literature and culture; participatory research