In Finnish children’s literature, the representations of diversity have increased substantially during the past decades. Cultural diversity, not as ethnicity alone, but as variety of representations of age, gender, and sexual orientation or, for example, religious or political view, is present in children’s books in texts and images. As children’s literature already is, or at least could be, a significant factor in education, it is important to examine critically what kind of representations and world views are there embedded to these cultural artifacts. In this paper I examine these matters by analyzing the representations of cultural diversity in Finnish children’s literature. My focus is especially in the possibility of authenticity in representations of cultural diversity.

The main research question in this paper is:

1.      How is cultural diversity represented in the Finnish children’s literature?

As presented in my previous research, cultural diversity, especially in the case of ethnic diversity, is occasionally still represented as simplified descriptions. These descriptions occasionally lead to romanticized and patronized representations of “other cultures”. Due to this I accent here the authenticity of representations by asking in addition to my main research question: How can cultural diversity be represented in children’s literature in authentic manner without generating and confirming stereotypes?

The social reality and especially the globalizing society are significant part of the theoretical framework. One of the main bases of the research is seeing children’s literature as part of the social context. Children’s literature offers time-related images and stories by describing the society and its values. It is a sociocultural product that cannot be segregated from surrounding social reality, as there is no such thing as an unbiased book (Klein, 1985,1; Butts, 1992, x-xvi). John Stephens (1992, 2-3) highlights that all kind of children’s literature contain ideology. He stresses the implicit inscribing of stereotypical attitudes into the children’s stories.

The concept and ideas of intercultural communication are also relevant, as the research is focused on analyzing the representations of cultural diversity. In a multicultural society where diversity of all kind is increasing, the intercultural skills are essential.  According to Bennet (1998, 1-3) the intercultural communication does not mean that we should or need to forget that cultures are different. Cultures are different, and by recognizing these differences, we can gain genuine understanding in communication. Authentic representations of cultural diversity are directly linked to genuine understanding in communication. What also needs to be considered when seeing children’s literature as part of the sociocultural context is the nature of the modern cultures. Cultures are not stable, they change and renew continuously (see e.g. Hall, 2003).

One of the objectives of this research is to generate knowledge that will inspire educators, in both formal and informal area, to view children’s literature critically as it is relevant part of communication that provokes always certain values and attitudes. In addition, these educational messages embedded in children’s literature are a significant motive why it could be utilized more also in intercultural education and in education in general (Klassen-Endrizzi and Ruiz, 1995, 129–139).

Bennet, M. J. 1998. Intercultural communication: A current perspective. In Bennet, M. J. (ed.): Basic Concepts of intercultural communication; Selected readings. Intercultural press. Available at: http://www.intercultural.org/mair/reading25.pdf Butts, D. (1992). Introduction. In Butts, D. (ed.): Stories and society. Children’s literature in its social context. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Fairclough, N. 1989. Language and power. Singapore: Longman Singapore Publishers. Fairclough, N. 1995. Critical discourse analysis: the critical study of language. Malaysia: Longman group limited. Fairclough, N. 1997. Miten media puhuu. (Translated by: Blom, V. & Hazard, K.) Tampere: Osuuskunta Vastapaino. Hall, S. 2003. Kulttuuri, paikka, identiteetti. In Lehtonen, M. & Löytty, O. (eds.): Erilaisuus. Jyväskylä: Gummerus Klassen-Endrizzi, C & Ruiz, R. 1995. Constructing a Multicultural Orientation Through Children’s literature. In Larkin, J.M & Sleeter, C.E. (eds.): Developing Multicultural Teacher Education Curricula. Anbany: State University of New York Press. Klein, G. 1985. Reading into racism - Bias in children’s literature and learning materials. new York: Routledge & Kegan Paul Inc. Pesonen, J. 2008. Etnisen erilaisuuden representaatiot suomalaisessa lastenkirjallisuudessa. (Representations of ethnic diversity in Finnish children’s literature) Master’s thesis, Oulu University: Department of Educational Sciences and Teacher Education. Stephens, J.1992. Language and ideology in Children’s fiction. New York: Longman Publishing.