Stories of Childhoods: Elusive Invisibility and Hidden Meanings

• In Event: Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: So Tell Me About It: Children’s Lives Through Children’s Eyes

Abstract

This paper analyses how stories influence the way childhoods are constructed, produced, and performed, as stories of power within the playground. Diverse philosophical lenses are used to analyse these stories and the secret messages they carry. These secrets are often not evident, or clear. Their elusive invisibility and hidden meanings create the unpredictable, and often irresistible, power of children’s stories and picture books over children and their childhoods. This paper argues for a critical consideration of the importance of the message that these stories carry, behind the beautiful colours and pictures.

Author

• Marek Tesar, The University of Auckland