Children’s play has been a recurring theme throughout the history of picture books for children, perhaps because of its utter relevance in young children’s lives. Pija Lindenbaum and Emma Adbåge are two authors of Swedish contemporary picture books who often explore depictions of play. The aim of this thesis is consequently to study depictions of children’s play in Lindenbaum’s Vi måste till jobbet (2019) and Adbåge’s Gropen (2018), and if the depictions can be interpreted as possibly empowering or subversive for the playing characters. With Play theory as a theoretical ground and useful concepts for picture book analysis, the aim is to compare these two picture books and how they each portray play. The results of the study show that Lindenbaum and Adbåge, each in their own way, explore both different depictions of play as well as the potential for empowering and subversive feelings for the playing child. In Lindenbaum’s case we see a depiction of pretend play and its mental evolution in children aged 3 to 8, as well as an acclaim to children’s playrooms as safe and potentially liberating play arenas. Whereas Gropen is more of a conflict-oriented work, Adbåge also defends children’s own spaces for play and the empowering feeling these arenas bring the playing children in being free from adult interference.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-184882 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Hellberg, Emilia |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för kultur och estetik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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