”Det verkar vara en klurig fråga”
Humor som strategi i skandinavisk barnelitteratur om hvordan barn blir til
Abstract
”It Seems to Be a Complicated Question”: Humor as Strategy in Scandinavian Facts-of-Life-Books
The aim of this article is to examine how a selection of Scandinavian children’s books, spanning from the 1970s up until today, have addressed questions concerning where children come from. Previous research has shown that various forms of humor have been used in the dissemination of information on intercourse and conception. In our article, we examine how and why humor is used when presenting adult sexuality in books for children. We consider humor to be a strategy to take the edge off a challenging topic. However, this strategy does not come without a cost. With the help of critical theory and humor theory, we problematize the strategic use of humor, as it may contribute to the reproduction of heteronormative notions and patterns. In the article, we map several recurring tactics, which we have categorized into five humoristic expressions: transgression of taboos, humorous recognition, absurd humor, naivistic humor, and anthropomorphic humor.
Authors contributing to Barnboken: Journal of Children's Literature Research agree to publish their articles under the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 License, allowing third parties to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it, under the condition that the authors are given credit and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear.
Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to the Swedish Institute for Children's Books.
