Iconotext and Environmental Protection. Ecocritical Analysis of Selected Norwegian Children’s Books
Abstract
The aim of the article is to examine how environmental issues are presented from an ecocritical perspective in Norwegian children’s picture books. Using the presented theory, I address the following research questions: What philosophical stance is presented in the selected books? What is the portrayal of nature in the iconotexts? How can the described environmental threat and its reasons be defined? How are the relationships between people and nature presented? Is the environmental crisis depicted in the books possible to mitigate? What future do the authors envision for humanity? The material for the analysis consists of Blekkulf. Hval i trøbbel by Bente Roestad, Jerzy Olszak and Magdalena Markiewka, Under polarisen by Line Renslebråten, and Hva er greia med klima? by Ole Mathismoen and Jenny Jordahl. The analysis shows that the books are dominated by the anthropocentric mindset; the image of nature and the relationship between humans and nature are diverse; the crisis exists and results from human activity, although its scope is presented differently. The different ways of featuring the crisis may or may not be related to the genre of the analysed books. The pastoral narrative is predominant, suggesting the possibility of returning to a pristine state of nature, although an apocalyptic narrative present in one text indicates irreversible climate change.
References
Bałachowicz, J. (2017). Idea zrównoważonego rozwoju w edukacji dziecka. Prima Educatione, 1, 21–38.
Buell, L. (1995). The environmental imagination: Thoreau, nature writing, and the Formation of American culture. Harvard University Press.
Buell, L. (2001). Writing for an endangered world: Literature, culture, and environment in the U.S. and beyond. Harvard University Press.
Chutorański, M. (2020). Nie(tylko)ludzkie wymiary edukacji. W stronę pedagogiki nieantropocentrycznej. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego.
Dymel-Trzebiatowska, H. (2010). Flagowe okręty Północy. O książce obrazkowej w Skandynawii. Ryms. Kwartalnik o książkach dla dzieci i młodzieży, 10, 2–3.
Dymel-Trzebiatowska, H. (2017). Książka obrazkowa w Skandynawii dawniej i dziś. Od drzeworytów po medium dla wszystkich. W: M. Cackowska, H. Dymel-Trzebiatowska i J. Szyłak, Książka obrazkowa. Wprowadzenie (s. 191–234). Instytut Kultury Popularnej.
Eriksen, G. i Reusch, M. (2023, 12 czerwca). Allemannsretten. Store Norske Leksikon. https://snl.no/allemannsretten
Fiedorczuk, J. (2015). Cyborg w ogrodzie. Wprowadzenie do ekokrytyki. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra.
Glotfelty, C. i Fromm, H. (1996). The ecocriticism reader: Landmarks in literary ecology. The University of Georgia Press.
Goga, N. i Eskebæk, M. (red.). (2021). På tværs af Norden 2. Økokritiske strømninger i nordisk børne- og ungdomslitteratur. Nordisk Ministerråd.
Hallberg, K. (1982). Litteraturvetenskapen och bilderboksforskningen. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap, 3–4, 163–168.
jfg. (b.d.). Krytyka ekologiczna (ekokrytyka). Instytut Anglistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. https://ia.uw.edu.pl/instytut/struktura/zaklad-literatury-amerykanskiej/badania-literaturoznawcze-w-zakladzie-literatury-amerykanskiej/krytyka-ekologiczna-ekokrytyka
Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov. (2023). Norwegia. https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/1814-05-17
Mańkowska, A. (2009). Przemiany nauczania obowiązkowego w Norwegii. Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu.
Mathismoen, O. i Jordahl, J. (2020). Hva er greia med klima? Ena – Vigmostad & Bjørke.
Rafferty, J.P. (2023, 2 października). Anthropocene epoch. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/Anthropocene-Epoch
Renslebråten, L. (2020). Under polarisen. Cappelen Damm.
Roestad, B. (2021). Blekkulf. Hval i trøbbel. Egmont.
Statens forurensningstilsyn. (1990). Framtiden er nå. Et sammendrag av SFTs langtidsplanlegging 1990–1993. Statens forurensningstilsyn.
Tunkiel, K. (2020). Ti år med norskebildebøker i Polen. Noen betraktninger fra et –litteraturformidlingsperspektiv. Folia Scandinavica Posnaniensia, 29, 30–41.
Tveterås, E. (red.). (1991). Bokklubbens tobindsleksikon. T. 2. Kunnskapsforlaget.
Copyright (c) 2023 Elementary Education in Theory and Practice
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- When submitting a text, the author declares that he/she is the Author of the article (hereinafter referred to as the “Work”) and:
- he/she owns the exclusive and unlimited copyright to the Work,
- is entitled to dispose of the copyright to the Work.
Declares that it does not infringe any third party copyrights or legal rights.
Declares that there is no conflict of interest.
2. At the same time, the Author grants the Ignatianum University in Cracowa royalty-free, non-exclusive and territorially unlimited licence to use the Work in the following fields of exploitation:
- recording the Work in a hard copy, as well as on a digital or magnetic medium;
- reproduction of the Work using any technique, without limitation of the number of editions or copies;
- distribution of the Work and its copies on any medium, including marketing, sale, lending, and rental;
- introduction of the Work into a computer memory;
- disseminating the Work in information networks, including in the Internet;
- public performance, exhibition, display, reproduction, broadcasting and re-broadcasting, as well as making the Work available to the public in such a way that everyone can have access to it at a time and place of their own choosing;
- within the scope of dependent rights to the Work, including in particular the right to make necessary changes to the Work resulting from editorial and methodical development, as well as to translate the Work into foreign languages;
The licence is granted from the moment of the transfer of the Work to the Ignatianum University in Cracow. The Ignatianum University in Cracow is entitled to grant further sub-licences to the Work within the scope of the right granted. The licence is time-limited and it is granted for a period of 15 years, starting from the date of its granting.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish their text online (e.g. in their institution’s repository or on the institution’s website) before or during the submission process as this may lead to beneficial exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of the published text (See The Effect of Open Access). We recommend using any of the following portals of research associations:
- ResearchGate
- SSRN
- Academia.edu
- Selected Works
- Academic Search
