Issues of Interculturality in Selected English-Speaking Picture Books

Table of Contents

1. Preliminary Remarks

2. Cultural Terminology
2.1. Culture
2.2. Multiculturalism
2.3. Interculturality

3. Literal Fields and Formats
3.1. Children’s Literature
3.2. Multicultural Children’s Literature
3.3. Book Formats
3.4. The Special Case of Picture Books

4. Analysis
4.1. Yangsook Choi - The Name Jar
4.1.1. Identity, Language and Belonging in The Name Jar
4.2. Mary Hoffman & Karin Littlewood - The Colour of Home
4.2.1. Identity, Language and Belonging in The Colour of Home
4.3. Irena Kobald & Freya Blackwood - My Two Blankets
4.3.1. Identity, Language and Belonging in My Two Blankets
4.4. Queen Rania Al Abdullah, K. DiPucchio & T. Tusa - The Sandwich Swap
4.4.1. Identity, Language and Belonging in The Sandwich Swap

5. Further Readings and Teaching Suggestions
5.1. Further Multi- and Intercultural Readings
5.2. A Brief Teaching Outlook

6. Conclusion

7. Bibliography
7.1. Primary Literature
7.2. Secondary Literature
7.3. Multi- and Intercultural Reading Lists

1. Preliminary Remarks

In a constantly changing world where national and cultural borders are blurring continually and where people from all over the world can come in touch with each other effortlessly, it is necessary to teach children already from a very young age the ways to cope with the issues that arise from this globalised world. Getting this understanding and acceptance of different cultures can be achieved by listening to and reading the stories of people that came from abroad. By absorbing stories about diversity and the individual experiences of people coming to a foreign country, young readers can learn to accept diversity as a regular part of their everyday lives.

This thesis will examine the ways that different intercultural issues are represented in picture books and talk about how these representations may affect the reader. Therefore, several approaches will be used. As this paper primarily focuses on the picture book format, the text itself, along with the illustrations, will be closely examined. It is a fact that the illustrations in picture books not only represent the story that is put into words, but also add additional messages and background information to the written text. One of the goals of this paper is to find the messages based on the interanimation of text and illustrations and interpret them according to the concept of interculturality.

The authors and illustrators of the discussed books are another part to focus on. It is important to note whether they are part of the culture they write about and illustrate, or not. “In composing the shapes and pictures of their texts, every writer and illustrator unconsciously reflects ideas and attitudes that are part of the society and culture in which they live and out of which they are writing”¹. Thus, it is crucial to take a closer look at the cultural background of authors and illustrators, as this paper examines picture books in connection to cultural issues. As much as possible, it will be examined in how far the biographies of the author and the illustrator have influenced the picture book. This knowledge then can give the book new aspects of meaning and might slightly change the message that is meant to be delivered. Also, it helps the reader to locate the story within a certain cultural range. This background information is closely linked to the context the book was written and illustrated in. In addition to that, the context in which the story is being perceived also needs to be examined to gain an overall analysis.

Finally, this paper will consider the recipient and how he or she perceives the words and the illustrations. Therefore, and in compliance to reception aesthetics and reader-response criticism, potential meanings of the text will be considered and compared to each other. Important aspects to be considered here are the desired target group along with their age range and their cultural background, and the time of the first publishing of the picture book. The date of publication is important as it can hint at a possible connection between the story in the book and political and cultural events that took place during the time of publication. Domains that will not be examined are empirical reception studies and reception history, simply because some of the works analysed in this paper are quite new and there are no empirical or historical studies on them yet.

These above-mentioned approaches will be used to find possible answers for the main question of this thesis. The leading question is which issues of interculturality are represented in what way. To give a thorough answer to this, several other questions need to be answered. As picture books are the focus of this paper, the first question to address is how text is used in comparison to the illustrations and in what relationship these two elements stand to each other. Is the text overpowering the pages or do the illustrations deliver the most important points? This goes along with the question which element delivers what message. The subject of this question is whether one element only depicts what is already shown in the other, or whether words and illustrations support each other and give additional meaning.

Again, as a special point for picture books, another focal point will be the artistic techniques that are being used in the illustrations of the analysed works. The connection between techniques, colours and the book’s message will be shown and discussed.

Finally, the use of stereotypes will be considered. At first it will be examined, whether stereotypes are being used at all, and if so, how they are being used. The author-based approach is needed for this as the consideration of the biographical background of the author and the illustrator can deliver hints to decipher potential stereotypes.

The paper will find that there are many ways to depict interculturality, especially when it comes to picture books and the interanimation of illustrations and words. The analysed books render the intercultural encounters in a positive light. However, when written and illustrated by Western artists, who have no roots in a different culture, the story always depicts the English-speaking protagonists as the saviour of the non-Westerners. In contrast to that, artists with a different cultural background show that their protagonists either are equal with the English­speaking culture or can work out their problems on their own. Thus, the biography of the writer and illustrator always influences the picture book in a certain way.

2. Cultural Terminology

The two focal points of this thesis are which certain issues of interculturality are represented in what way in children’s literature. In order to get a full understanding of this matter, it is essential to understand the idea of interculturality, how it is connected to the concept of multiculturalism, and which concerns, and questions arise within these theories. This chapter will give an overview of different approaches that play into interculturality and position it next to the concepts of culture and multiculturalism. Thereafter the issues that will be discussed in the analysis will be defined and the reason for the choice of topics will be given.

2.1. Culture

Before defining interculturality to discuss it and use it as the basis for the following analysis, it is necessary to take a step back and talk about the concept of culture. Only by defining culture and positioning interculturality against the background of culture and its notions, a full understanding of intercultural ideas can be reached. To arrive at a satisfying conclusion, and to include all possible meanings of culture, the concept was looked up in several dictionaries. The following chapter will now introduce the different definitions of culture, which only share the fact that all of them were listed as the first, and therefore mostly used, definition in the respective source.

One definition that can be found is that culture includes “[t]he arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively”². This definition is very narrow and focuses only on intellectual achievement. While this is also called culture, it is by far not the definition of culture that is needed to arrive at the concept of interculturality.

A more fitting definition is delivered by Merriam-Webster, where the concept of culture is described as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also: the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time”³. This description is not only broadened by simply including more elements, it also adds the important aspect of people. Culture is bound to human beings and their lives, it is formed by people, but also forms humankind and nations. The connection between culture and a nation can also be seen in the above­mentioned definition, where it is said that features are shared by people in a certain place. The “people in a certain place” can easily be understood as the population of a nation or a region. Also, by talking about “people in a certain place or time” it implies that there are other populations that are not in the place or time of that one group of people. Therefore, culture also always includes the ideas of otherness.

Getting into the texts of dictionaries and encyclopaedias one can find more detailed definitions for the term, including many theories and ideas from different scholars. Payne defines culture at first as [a] term of virtually limitless application, which initially may be understood to refer to everything that is produced by human beings as distinct from all that is a part of nature. However, it has often been observed that since nature is itself a human abstraction, it too has a history, which in turn means that it is part of culture.⁴

Another term in relation to culture is introduced here: nature. While culture is man-made, nature is assumed to have always been there. But then again, Payne observes, the idea of nature is also man-made. Once again it becomes clear that defining the term culture is not as easy as expected in the beginning. Further definitions in this dictionary entry specify culture as the semiotics of human kind⁵, as one of the most complicated words in the English language⁶ as the opposition to instinct⁷.

Furthermore, Bhabha indicates already in the beginning of his work, how problematic it is to tie culture to a certain location by saying that “[i]t is in the emergence of the interstices - the overlap and displacement of domains of difference- that the intersubjective and collective experience of nationness, community interest, or cultural value are negotiated”⁸.

By talking about interstices, he indicates that culture happens between certain entities, hence it is only culture because some beings or systems react to each other. This view already pushes towards the ideas of multiculturalism and interculturality. Bhabha then attempts to describe the location of culture in more detail by considering the history of colonisation, as well as ideas from - among others - Michel Foucault and Stuart Hall. He especially mentions the combination of nature and culture as one of the dualities that divides colonial spaces⁹. Another substantial aspect from Homi Bhabha’s cultural theory is the idea of the third space¹⁰. The basis for his theory is post-colonialism. Regarding indigenous people, the first space is their cultural background, where they know how to articulate and where they have their values and strategies that are accepted by their fellow people. Still staying with colonialism, the second space can be understood as the cultural and institutional structures which are imposed by the colonial force¹¹. The indigenous population must act within this second space and its structures, such as abiding to the law, acting within the social structures, or even adapting to the colonialists’ religion. Now the second space does neither allow the indigenous people to express their first space while being in contact with the second one, nor can they fully adapt to the second space, as they will always be discriminated because of their colour or race by the colonialists. Therefore, a third space is created, where they establish a hybrid culture, which allows them to combine their own knowledge with processes from the colonialist culture. Thus, they develop a new space, that lets them interact with the colonialists¹². This third space is the location where intercultural exchange happens as it provides an environment where systems of socialization meet, and traditions mix¹³. As we will see in the later parts of this thesis, the term “third space” is also important when talking about picture books and how they work. To avoid confusion, I will refer to Bhabha’s term as the cultural third space. After shedding light on several different aspects and efforts to specify the cultural term in an accurate definition, Bhabha finally concludes that the main characteristic of culture is its “archaic undecidability”¹⁴.

Finally, Barmeyer describes culture as a system of acquired orientations and signifiers, such as values and artefacts, that is used and maintained by a certain group of people¹⁵. Furthermore, culture can be identified as an unconscious implicitness, which shows the omnipresence of the notion of culture. Even though the people may not be aware of it, everything they do and say is bound to their cultural background. There are three complementary approaches to the cultural term. The first is seeing culture as a system of interpretations, which includes the common symbols, ideas and meanings that are shared within a culture to achieve mutual understanding¹⁶. The second approach is regarding culture as a system of certain values that are acquired through socialisation. These patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting¹⁷ are gained by interacting with family members, peers, and friends. Culture is regarded as a system to achieve goals and solve problems by the third approach. It states that the individual decisions on how to achieve goals and solve problems are based on the requirements and values of the respective culture. Thus, each society develops certain patterns to solve problems, which are then reinforced by institutions¹⁸. Barmeyer concludes that culture is continually changing and developing itself. Hence, it is not a static concept, but rather an ever-changing construct that constantly redefines itself.

As a conclusion of reviewing several different definitions and ideas for the concept of culture, it can be stated that, in the sense of Bhabha, there is no real and overall satisfactory answer to the question what culture is. On the contrary, there are several different approaches that survey different aspects of culture. To define a basis for the further development of this paper, the analysis and ideas will be based on the concept of culture as a set of values, ideas, behaviours, artefacts and problem-solving approaches that are used by a certain group of people who live in a joint place and time. This also includes common traditions and language, which will be one of the focal points of this thesis. Furthermore, the theory of the cultural third space will be kept in mind and applied, where needed.

2.2. Multiculturalism

While specifying “culture” already proved to be a challenging task, it is only marginally easier to find a short and clear definition for multiculturalism. Gates states that it is a term whose “boundaries are not easy to establish”¹⁹, which already shows a similar problem to the term “culture”.

The first definition to be considered is from the Oxford Dictionary and describes multiculturalism as “[t]he presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society”²⁰. This definition is easily comprehensible, as it describes a situation everyone is confronted with in everyday life, namely the presence of people from different cultures within one place and time.

Merriam-Webster only provides a definition for “multicultural” and none for multiculturalism. It is stated that multicultural means “[...] relating to, reflecting, or adapted to diverse cultures”²¹. Both definitions include the notion of diversity and the encounter of several cultures.

Standley describes multiculturalism as follows:

[...] [I]t connotes either some mode of transnational interrelationships between the Cultures of two or more countries, or it suggests in a more circumscribed manner the broader dimensions of multiple cultural identities within the boundaries of a single nation.²²

Hence, the concept can be understood in two different ways: either as the relationship between at least two nations, or as the cultural composition of a society within one nation. Going back to the definition of culture that was established in the previous chapter, and regarding the second point of Standley’s explanation, multiculturalism implies a combination of people with different values, ideas, and behaviours.

The Portuguese professor for Intercultural studies Clara Sarmento provides us with a broader, but at the same time more detailed, definition: Multiculturalism is a judgment of existence: in a same physical or conceptual space, different people coexist, from different cultures (in terms of memories, options, references, values, preferences, projects, expectations, experiences, practices, and attitudes), but - under ideal circumstances - they mutually recognize the right to live in common. Multiculturalism preaches not only the right to share a territory, but also the obligation to live in it according to the cultures of those various groups and communities.²³

The notion that is added to the already mentioned descriptions of multiculturalism is the focus on coexistence. In a multicultural society people from different cultural backgrounds coexist next to each other while keeping their own cultural values and behaviours. The underlying message here is that they respect each other’s cultures and at the same time do not interfere with other cultures.

According to Barmeyer²⁴, multiculturalism and multiculturality differ slightly from one another. While multiculturality describes a cultural heterogeneous society where multiple cultures exist next to each other, multiculturalism means the positive interaction with multiculturality and its elements on an ideological, political and educational level²⁵. It is tightly connected to interculturality, which we will see in the next chapter.

To conclude, all definitions included the idea of two or more different cultures, as the prefix “multi” already implied. Furthermore, the aspect of coexistence was added and put the focus on the sole cohabitation of multiple cultures within one society. Within the concept of multiculturalism there is no interaction per se between the cultures living next to each other.

2.3. Interculturality

The interaction between cultures is the focal point of interculturality, which is not only already implied by the prefix “inter” but will also be shown by the following definitions.

The first interesting point to mention is that both, the Oxford Dictionary and Merriam-Webster, do not list the term “interculturality”. Only the adjective “intercultural” can be found on both platforms. The Oxford Dictionary defines the term intercultural as something that “[takes] place between cultures, or [is] derived from different cultures”²⁶. Something that is “occurring between or involving two or more cultures”²⁷ is the description on Merriam-Webster. Both are very short definitions and describe the intercultural experience in the same way.

Christoph Barmeyer defines interculturality in all its details and requirements:

Gegenseitiger Prozess des Austausches, der Interaktion, der Verständigung, der Interpretation, der Konstruktion, aber auch der Überraschung und der Irritation, ebenso der Selbstvergewisserung, der Deformation, der Erweiterung und des Wandels, der dann relevant wird, wenn Kulturen auf der Ebene von Gruppen, Individuen und Symbolen in Kontakt miteinander kommen und nicht über dieselben Wertorientierungen, Bedeutungssysteme und Wissensbestände verfügen [...]²⁸

Interculturality therefore stands for the negotiation of meaning, knowledge and tradition between groups or individuals of different cultural origin, which then establishes a new space that allows the participants to operate. Only when an overlap of cultures occurs, does interculturality develop. Not only the topics that are relevant for the participants change, but also their behaviour as a new code of conduct is being established²⁹. Finally, interculturality can have positive effects, which leads to synergy, or a negative outcome, which causes critical incidents.

Additionally, Abdallah-Pretceille states that “[n]o fact is intercultural at the outset, nor is the quality of intercultural an attribute of an object, it is only intercultural analysis that can give it this character”³⁰. This clarifies the fact that interculturality is not a given point but rather a decision made individually of which behaviour is intercultural and which is not.

According to Sarmento, one of the main points of intercultural exchange is communication³¹. It is the “defining characteristic and the central means”³² that promotes a dialogue and therefore a connection between individuals and groups from different cultures. Moreover, she contrasts interculturality to multiculturalism in regard to openness³³. While the basis for multiculturalism is tolerance it does not necessarily mean that it entails openness or even a connection between the involved cultures. Interculturality on the other hand could not happen without a basic ground of openness, as the participants must act and react to each other constantly, which demands open minds and approaches. Finally, Sarmento describes interculturality in contrast to multiculturalism regarding the notions of the other and the self:

Multiculturalism is obsessed with the other and what one needs to know about him/her, while interculturalism focuses on the self, questioning one’s identity in relation to others. The ultimate goal of the former is a cautious tolerance, while that of the latter is conviviality, e.g., and again, communication.³⁴

A very important part of interculturality is the identity of each cultural participant. As Dervin states “[e]ducation often contributes to making us believe that our identities are stable and constant”³⁵, but that is not the case as every individual firstly has a cluster of identities and secondly his or her identity constantly changes and is unpredictable. The cluster of identities is caused by the many roles each individual has to fit during his or her life. Be it the sister, the girlfriend, the manager, or the cashier, each role is connected to certain expectations that require certain character traits and therefore a specific identity. Regarding the second point, Dervin states that people tend to “hide behind a mask” or “reduce the other to a single identity”³⁶ to be able to live peacefully with each other. Furthermore, the self is always constructed in reference to the others and the environment has a constant influence on our identities. As someone living in his or her “home” culture it may be not evident, why identity is such an important aspect when talking about interculturality and the contact to people from other cultures. But coming from a different cultural background may lead to people questioning your identity. Furthermore, Dervin connects the question of identity to politics:

For people who appear to be different from the ‘majority’ (different skin colour, foreign accent), the question of who they are might often be a topic of discussion with others. Where are you from? Where are you really from? You sound foreign, what are your origins? Although these questions might seem ‘natural’ in intercultural encounters, asking them can be very political, and answering them difficult, annoying, and/or embarrassing. In our societies, some people always need to explain their identity while others don’t.³⁷

This shows that identity is again a notion that is not fixed, such as interculturality, but rather flexible and controlled by individual knowledge and expectations. That is why someone with a dark skin colour is immediately connected to a non-western, and presumably African, culture, while someone with blonde hair and blue eyes is expected to be Scandinavian. These assumptions are obviously based on stereotypes that no one can be completely relieved from.

Christoph Barmeyer then talks not only about identity, but about cultural identity, which is defined as the feeling of belonging to a certain cultural group³⁸. Moreover, he divides this cultural identity into the one of a group and the individual one. While the cultural identity of a group serves the purpose of social solidarity, it expresses a feeling of security on a personal level. This individual feeling is needed to be able to observe and act in an experienced way within the social group³⁹. In addition, it is possible that one person develops several different cultural identities, so he or she can participate within different cultural groups.

Finally, it is obvious that the notion of identity is tightly connected to the concept of interculturality. As already mentioned above, the knowledge of certain values and cultural tools is needed to partake in a cultural group. Probably the most important tool to participate is the language, as it is the primary way of communication between individuals and groups. Mastering a foreign language then also means being able to become part of the foreign culture and finding a spot within this culture for themselves. Thus, language is, among others, a stepping stone to achieve a notion of belonging to the new culture. And only by gaining this feeling of belonging to a group can an individual feel safe as well as comfortable and have a positive experience within this new cultural environment. But not only the individual earns something by becoming part of the cultural, the group itself, hence the culture as a whole, is expanded and, if the contact is positive, improved. An example for the improvement of the culture can be new dishes, new music, or new fabrics that are added by the newcomer.

In summary, interculturality implies the interaction between two or more individuals or groups from different cultural backgrounds. It is the cultural third space that is created by including individual behaviours and responses to certain actions. There is no definite intercultural action, but interculturality is rather created individually within the relationship that develops between the participants. Positive effects can lead to synergy, while critical incidents can affect the relationships negatively and lead to a failed relationship, which then can induce discrimination and hatred towards other cultures. There are several aspects that influence intercultural encounters, from which the three following were considered in more detail and will be analysed in the picture books: identity, language, and belonging. The representation of these aspects will be shown and examined in regard to stereotypes, the bibliographical backgrounds of the authors and illustrators, and the possible educational values.

3. Literal Fields and Formats

This chapter will provide definitions for children’s literature and multicultural children’s literature in particular. Furthermore, different books formats will be introduced and explained. Finally, the special literary form of the picture books will be clarified. Certain important aspects regarding picture books, such as intermediality and the choice of artistic techniques, will be explained in reference to the format. These explanations will then form the basis for the analysis that will follow in the next chapter.

3.1. Children's Literature

Finding a clear definition for Children’s literature is similarly difficult to finding one clear definition for the term culture. The basic and most easily comprehensible idea is that it is literature which is produced for children as the main audience.

Furthermore, it is also difficult to limit the topics that are covered in this field. Gopalakrishnan argues that “[...] most educators agree that children’s books reflect the historical times in which they were published, particularly the perspectives of what makes up a child”⁴⁰. Galda and Cullinan give a summary of the purpose and the topics that can be found in texts for children:

Literature entertains and informs. It enables young people to explore and understand their world. It enriches their lives and widens their horizons.

They learn about people and places on the other side of the world as well as ones down the street. They travel back and forth in time to visit familiar places and people to meet new friends, and to see new worlds. They can explore their own feelings, shape their own values, and imagine lives beyond the one they live.⁴¹

[...]

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¹ Winch, Gordon, et al. Literacy: Reading, Writing, and Children's Literature. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2001 (p. 310).

² Oxford University Press (2018). en.oxforddictionaries.com. Web. 02.02.2018.

³ Merriam-Webster, Incorporated (2018). merriam-webster.com. Web. 02.02.2018.

⁴ Payne, Michael. "Culture.” A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Ed. Michael Payne and Jessica Rae Barbera. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2010.

⁵ Geertz (1973) quoted in Payne, Michael. "Culture."A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Ed. Michael Payne and Jessica Rae Barbera. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2010.

⁶ Williams (1994) quoted in Payne, Michael. "Culture."A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Ed. Michael Payne and Jessica Rae Barbera. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2010.

⁷ Freud (1930) quoted in Payne, Michael. "Culture."A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Ed. Michael Payne and Jessica Rae Barbera. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2010.

⁸ Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1997 (p. 2).

⁹ Ibid. (p. 124)

¹⁰ Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1997 (p. 34ff).

¹¹ Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1997 (p. 34ff).

¹² Ibid.

¹³ Barmeyer, Christoph . Taschenlexikon Interkulturalität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012 (p. 46ff).

¹⁴ Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1997 (p. 135).

¹⁵ Barmeyer, Christoph. Taschenlexikon Interkulturalität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012 (p. 95f).

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Ibid.

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ Gates (1993) quoted in Standley, Fred L. "Multiculturalism."A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Ed. Michael Payne and Jessica Rae Barbera. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2010.

²⁰ Oxford University Press (2018). en.oxforddictionaries.com. Web. 02.02.2018.

²¹ Merriam-Webster, Incorporated (2018). merriam-webster.com. Web. 02.02.2018.

²² Standley, Fred L. "Multiculturalism.” A Dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory: Second Edition. Ed. Michael Payne and Jessica Rae Barbera. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2010.

²³ Sarmento, Clara. "Interculturalism, multiculturalism, and intercultural studies: Questioning definitions and repositioning strategies.” Intercultural Pragmatics 11.4 (2014): 606f.

²⁴ Barmeyer, Christoph. Taschenlexikon Interkulturalität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012 (p. 125f).

²⁵ Ibid.

²⁶ Oxford University Press (2018). en.oxforddictionaries.com. Web. 02.02.2018.

²⁷ Merriam-Webster, Incorporated (2018). merriam-webster.com. Web. 02.02.2018.

²⁸ Barmeyer 2011 & Spencer-Oatey/Franklin 2009 quoted in Barmeyer, Christoph. Taschenlexikon Interkulturalität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012 (p. 81).

²⁹ Ibid.

³⁰ Abdallah-Pretceille, Martine. "Interculturalism as a paradigm for thinking about diversity.” Intercultural Education 17.5 (2006): 480.

³¹ Sarmento, Clara. "Interculturalism, multiculturalism, and intercultural studies: Questioning definitions and repositioning strategies.” Intercultural Pragmatics 11.4 (2014): 609.

³² Ibid.

³³ Sarmento, Clara. "Interculturalism, multiculturalism, and intercultural studies: Questioning definitions and repositioning strategies.” Intercultural Pragmatics 11.4 (2014): 609.

³⁴ Sarmento, Clara. "Interculturalism, multiculturalism, and intercultural studies: Questioning definitions and repositioning strategies.” Intercultural Pragmatics 11.4 (2014): 610.

³⁵ Dervin, Fred. Interculturality in Education: A Theoretical and Methodological Toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016 (p. 14).

³⁶ Ibid.

³⁷ Dervin, Fred. Interculturality in Education: A Theoretical and Methodological Toolbox. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016 (p. 16).

³⁸ Barmeyer, Christoph. Taschenlexikon Interkulturalität. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012 (p. 72f).

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ Gopalakrishnan, Ambika. Multicultural Children's Literature: A Critical Issues Approach. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2011 (p. 5ff).

⁴¹ Galda, L. & Cullinan B. E. Literature and the Child. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2006 (p.5).