Children's literature with Amish themes:Its analysis and reception

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02486
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Oyabu Kana 金沢大学, 外国語教育系, 教授 (30283146)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 大藪 千穂 岐阜大学, 教育学部, 教授 (10262742)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 児童文学 / アーミッシュ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research focuses on children's literature with Amish themes. The research compared children's literature written for non-Amish children and children's literature written for Anabaptist families including the Amish. The research found that texts for non-Amish readers tend to depict "glamorous chores" (i.e. looking after cute domestic animals, collecting eggs, picking strawberries and other colorful fruits) whereas stories in the children's section of an Anabaptist family magazine deal with more mandane chores such as cleaning and ironing, taking care of younger siblings who are often unhappy or unruly, and so on. The research has also found that the way domestic chores are depicted to have a religious dimention (from feeling unwilling to take part in such activities to feeling elated or clensed by accomplishing the chores) is similar to the descriptions of chores in children's stories with Zen themes.

Free Research Field

英語文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この研究では、現代アメリカ社会における宗教と児童文学の関係を、作品分析と受容研究によって、明らかにしようとした。