Where the Wild Things Are: The Role of Animals in Canadian Schoolbooks

Claire E. Smerdon

Jump to Content

Chapter 19 Where the Wild Things Are: The Role of Animals in Canadian Schoolbooks

in Green Matters

Autor:in:

Claire E. Smerdon

Claire E. Smerdon
Search for other papers by Claire E. Smerdon in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Art:: Kapitel

Seiten:: 343–357

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004408876_020

Über Institut einloggen

Sofortzugang erwerben (PDF-Download und unbegrenzter Online-Zugang):

42,00 €35,00 € excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Token einlösen

Abstract

Twentieth-century Canadian children first encountered literary descriptions of the natural environment in their school readers, lavishly illustrated anthologies designed not only to improve reading skills but also to introduce children to their country. These official textbooks present contrasting – and conflicting – views of Canada’s wilderness as both the source of rich resources and the site of romantic adventure, influencing generations of children’s earliest ideas about their environment while establishing the Canadian wilderness as a cornerstone of national identity. Unlike popular media, readers were official documents with their use mandated through legislation, read by all children attending English language public schools across Canada.

This chapter focuses on the distinct role of wild animals – predators and prey, protectors and pets – in constructing Canadian children’s relationship with the wilderness environment. Canada has a long tradition of realistic animal stories and the readers include excerpts from classic fiction in addition to purpose-written contemporary stories. Some stories appear in each generation of readers used from the early 1900s to the 1980s.

While early twentieth-century readers position animals as predators or prey, later textbooks depict Canadian children taming wild animals and animals befriending children as protectors. These shifting constructions contribute to a changing view of the Canadian wilderness from something to be feared, to wilderness as the site of adventure, influencing Canadian children’s early notions about ecology and habitat conservation and the value of the natural environment.

Zitierungsangaben

Save
Cite
Inhalt per Mail versenden

Link teilen

Sie können einen Link zu dieser Seite per E-Mail senden:
Inhalt per Mail versenden
oder den Link direkt kopieren:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004408876/BP000024.xml
Der Link wurde nicht kopiert. Ihr aktueller Browser unterstützt das Kopieren über diese Schaltfläche möglicherweise nicht.

Link wurde kopiert

Reduzieren
Erweitern
Nach oben

Green Matters

Ecocultural Functions of Literature

Reihe: Nature, Culture and Literature, Band: 15

ISBN:: 9789004408876

Verleger:: Brill

Print-Publikationsdatum:: 22 Oct 2019

Fachgebiete
- Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften

Front Matter

Back Matter

Kennzahlen

	Insgesamt	Letzte 365 Tage	In den letzten 30 Tagen
Aufrufe von Kurzbeschreibungen	251	73	6
Gesamttextansichten	9	0	0
PDF-Downloads	12	0	0

Afrikanistik	Internationale Beziehungen	Nahost- und Islamwissenschaften
Altorientalistik und Ägyptologie	Internationales Recht	Pädagogik
Amerikanistik	Judaistik	Philosophie
Asienwissenschaften	Klassische Altertumswissenschaft	Religionswissenschaft
Bibelauslegung	Kunstgeschichte	Slawistik und Eurasienkunde
Biologie	Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften	Sozialwissenschaften
Biowissenschaften	Medienwissenschaft	Sprachen und Linguistik
Buchgeschichte und Kartographie	Menschenrechte und humanitäres Völkerrecht	Theologie und Christentum
Geschichte	Musikwissenschaft

Fachgebiete

Autor:innen

Open Access

Produkt-Informationen

Über uns

Kontakt

Chapter 19 Where the Wild Things Are: The Role of Animals in Canadian Schoolbooks

Abstract

Zitierungsangaben

Link teilen

Green Matters

Ecocultural Functions of Literature

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Kennzahlen

Kennzahlen