engleski

Fairy Tales without Borders – Cultural Identity and Human Rights in Childhood

In fairy tales, there are visible and hidden meanings. On one side, fairy tales are culture-bound and, to a great extent, transfer the cultural identity of a country and a nation. On the other side, their symbolism goes beyond the borders of particular countries. The polarisation of fairy tale characters and their personal traits, a clear distinction of good and evil, and other ideals of human rights, such as freedom, justice, respect, security, peace, ownership and diversity, can be found in fairy tales as well. On a symbolic level, in all cultures, fairy tales describe how a situation dominated by unacceptable and unbearable conditions, in which human rights are threatened, can be turned into an acceptable, fortunate and fair situation. In order to convey the concept of human rights in childhood, children must be able to identify themselves. Children need identification figures, role models, among others also literary or screen heroes. The issue leaving an imprint on moral education in childhood is the issue of identification. In this process, a child does not come up with the question what kind of person he/she would like to be but whom he/she would like to resemble. For that reason, a child should be surrounded by moral examples in his/her childhood and such moral examples are not only found in the environment but also in literary works, particularly in fairy tales. Since fairy tales have their origin in the cultures of different countries, children also get to know different customs and cultures. And this encourages tolerance, too. Traditional stories and human rights complement each other and are an important tool in education. Human rights and fairy tales are based upon human dignity ; they encourage us to take control over our life. Fairy tales help people to become strong and thus to build solid foundations for respect and openness. The lecture addresses also the possibilities of conveying the concept of human rights in childhood through fairy tales, respecting the cultural identity and diversity of a country, contained in its fairy tales.

Fairy tales; cultural identity; diversity; human rights

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