Seminar: Exploring Representations of Non-human Animals in Children’s Literature

On 23 May, the Network for Environmental Humanities and the Centrum voor DierMens Studies join forces for a seminar where participants will explore the topic of non-human representation together, by focusing on children’s literature. They are joined by Utrecht University alum Merel Hol and anthropologist, researcher, and children’s book author Jet Bakels.

Programme

In the first part of the seminar, participants will consider the representation of non-human animals and discuss the various perspectives emerging from the texts on the reading list. In addition to leading this discussion, Merel Hol will present on her master thesis, Boe Zegt de Koe: Cultural Conceptualizations of Farmed Animals in the Netherlands.

In the second part, Jet Bakels will present on representing non-human animals in children’s literature and explain some of the choices she made in her own publications. Jet invites critical perspectives and there will certainly be room for discussion, inspired by the texts discussed in the first part. Bakels’s most recent children’s book, Clara’s grote reis, was part of the 2022-2023 Rijksmuseum exhibition about the world-famous 18th-century rhinoceros Clara.

To prepare for the seminar, participants are encouraged to read as many of the texts from the list as they can. All of the texts are freely accessible through the weblinks.