January

Harsh Realities Drawn in Pictures: (Children's?) Literature and Social Problems of the World 

Laissa Rodriguez Moreno, Associate Professor of Spanish
January 23 & 30 

Children’s literature has long offered a powerful means of helping children, and adults, to grapple with complicated social fears and concerns, including those associated with harsh or violent situations. This two-week forum presented by Associate Professor of Spanish Laissa Rodríguez Moreno will introduce audiences to the ways children’s literature can help individuals and societies navigate some of the harsh realities of our global world. With particular emphasis on Latin America and Spain, we will examine how children’s literature offers a way for societies to articulate and confront difficult issues and circumstances. In week one of this forum, we will introduce some concepts and conventions of the genre, especially the picture book and the relevance of graphics and images in presenting these stories. We will then focus on a specific picture book, Tengo Miedo (I’m Scared) by Ivar Da Coll, which is about armed violence in Colombia in recent years. Week two’s session will introduce the picture book Camino a Casa, which addresses the issue of forced disappearances, and will also explore how books by Colombian, Peruvian, Spanish and Swiss authors have dealt with recent issues over immigration. As a whole, this forum series will allow us to reimagine the frontiers of children’s literature and to explore some of the world’s most pressing social issues through the lens of international picture books.