Session Information
25 SES 05, Contextual Studies
Paper Session
Contribution
The purpose of this study is to investigate how educational use of Rwandan children’s literature, mainly fairy tales, can challenge traditional gender roles in Rwandan education. Indeed, researchers in and authors of children’s literature argue that the manner in which gender is represented in children’s literature impacts children’s attitudes and perceptions of gender-appropriate behaviour in society. In this respect, contents with gender stereotypes can offer children a privileged opportunity, given appropriate educational intervention to re-examine their gender belief and assumptions, leading them to adopt more egalitarian attitudes. Children’s reflections on gender in a fairy tale of Ndabaga, a female protagonist portrayed in non-traditional gender roles are analysed. Based on the aim of the study, the following questions will guide this study: (1) how do children reflect on gender in Rwandan fairy tales and (2) what can they learn from reading and discussing them?
Theories pertinent to this study are found in the functions of children’s literature in general and fairy tales in particular (see for example, Bettelheim 1976; Hunt 1990, 1991; Geoff 1995; Zipes 1997). Literary critics acknowledge that children’s literature belongs to the literary and socio-educational systems at the same time as it is read for literary experience, entertainment, and recreation, as well as education and socialization (Hunt 1990; Sutherland 1997).
Fairy tales work consciously or unconsciously to free and support the child. Bettelheim (1976, 34) holds that the fairy tale helps children to develop the desire for a higher consciousness through what is implied in the story. As a result, children make use of stories in fairy tales to cope with their baffling emotions. Fairy tales, as Geoff (1995) states, make good literary fiction since they deal with a struggle between good and evil at some level. Moreover, through the appeal the stories make on readers’ imagination and the attractive outcome of events, they convince their audience (Bettelheim 1976).
This study is anchored in a socioconstructionist perspective, especially in the works of Paechter (1998, 2006); Prügl (1999) and Renold (2005). From this perspective, gender is seen as a social construct influenced by values, experiences, discourses and actions that are found within the society at large. Discussing the globalization of gender construction, Prügl (1999, 4) asserts that “notions of female and male, feminine and masculine, are not naturally given but emerge from particular socio-historical practices”. In this respect, feminist and postmodern/ poststructuralist discourses and theories on gender hold that gender is a social construct that draws on socially and culturally prescribed roles assigned to boys and girls, men and women. It is therefore a construction of the society based on cultural practices and norms.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Bettelheim, B. 1976. The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. London: Penguin. Davies, B. 2003. Frogs and snails and feminist tales: preschool children and gender. New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc. Geoff, F. 1995. Celebrating children’s literature in education. New York: Teacher's College. Hourihan, M. 1997. Deconstructing the hero: Literary theory and children’s literature. London: Routledge. Hunt, P., ed. 1990. Children’s literature: the development of criticism. London: Routledge. Hunt, P. 1991. Criticism, theory, and children’s literature. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, Inc. Mendoza, J. and D. Reese. 2001. Examining multicultural picture books for the early childhood classroom: Possibilities and pitfalls. Early Childhood Research & Practice 3 (2): 1-38. Oittinen, R. 1993. I am me-I am the other: On the dialogics of translating for children. Tampere: University of Tampere. Paechter, C. 1998. Educating the other: Gender, Power and Schooling. London: The Falmer Press. Prügl, E. 1999. The Global Construction of Gender. New York: Columbia University Press. Renold, E. 2005. Girls, Boys and Junior Sexualities: Exploring children’s gender and sexual relations in the primary school. New York: Routledge Falmer. Rugamba, C. 1981. Contes rwandais. Paris: Fleuve et Flamme. Scott, K. P., and S. Feldman-Summers. 1979. Children's reactions to textbook stories in which females are portrayed in traditionally male roles. Journal of Educational Psychology 71(3):396-402. Singh, M. 1998. Gender issues in children's literature. ERIC Digest. Accessed October 14, 2008, from http://www.indiana.edu/-reading / ieo/ digests/ d135.html Trepanier-Street, M. L., and J.A. Romatowski. 1999. The influence of children’s literature on gender role perceptions: A reexamination. Early Childhood Education Journal 26(3): 155-9. Tsao, Y. L. 2008. Gender issues in young children’s literature. Reading Improvement 45 (3):108-14. Zipes, J. 1997. Happily ever after: Fairy tales, children, and the culture industry. London and New York: Routledge.
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