Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal Analysis

In this article, we investigate (partly guided) conceptualisations of “peace” (and “war”) in children’s school drawings and their accompanying textual framings. We draw on a transdisciplinary framework grounded in ethnography and metapragmatics, combining tools from socio‐pragmatic (critical) approa...

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Main Authors: Lisa Blasch, Nadja Thoma
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cogitatio 2024-09-01
Series:Social Inclusion
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Online Access:https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/8692
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author Lisa Blasch
Nadja Thoma
author_facet Lisa Blasch
Nadja Thoma
author_sort Lisa Blasch
collection DOAJ
description In this article, we investigate (partly guided) conceptualisations of “peace” (and “war”) in children’s school drawings and their accompanying textual framings. We draw on a transdisciplinary framework grounded in ethnography and metapragmatics, combining tools from socio‐pragmatic (critical) approaches to multimodal discourse. Our data consists of authentically generated, photographed image‐text worksheets that were publicly displayed on the fence of a primary school in a small town in Northern Italy in April 2022. Combining qualitative and quantitative analytical procedures, the (textual and multimodal) conceptualisations range from peace as a very concrete mode of secure‐relaxed experience of basic relationships, of home and togetherness, and of self, to peace as care and unity on a more (global‐)political scale. Contrary to ideologies on children’s drawings as naïve‐unmediated “windows” to inner states, our analysis shows how the trans‐/locally re‐/produced repertoire(s) of multimodal frozen mediated actions (including emblematic patterns such as emojis, peace‐flags, comics‐speech bubbles, etc.) are deployed ranging from realistic scenes to abstract and complex visual designs. Thereby, children show themselves as literate and often humorous‐creative practitioners of visual communication.
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spelling doaj-art-5d5e308e90ec4e09a2d481ee41e4f4c92024-11-19T12:15:47ZengCogitatioSocial Inclusion2183-28032024-09-0112010.17645/si.86923710Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal AnalysisLisa Blasch0Nadja Thoma1Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, University of Innsbruck, Austria / Department of Media, Society and Communication, University of Innsbruck, AustriaDepartment of Psychosocial Intervention and Communication Studies, University of Innsbruck, AustriaIn this article, we investigate (partly guided) conceptualisations of “peace” (and “war”) in children’s school drawings and their accompanying textual framings. We draw on a transdisciplinary framework grounded in ethnography and metapragmatics, combining tools from socio‐pragmatic (critical) approaches to multimodal discourse. Our data consists of authentically generated, photographed image‐text worksheets that were publicly displayed on the fence of a primary school in a small town in Northern Italy in April 2022. Combining qualitative and quantitative analytical procedures, the (textual and multimodal) conceptualisations range from peace as a very concrete mode of secure‐relaxed experience of basic relationships, of home and togetherness, and of self, to peace as care and unity on a more (global‐)political scale. Contrary to ideologies on children’s drawings as naïve‐unmediated “windows” to inner states, our analysis shows how the trans‐/locally re‐/produced repertoire(s) of multimodal frozen mediated actions (including emblematic patterns such as emojis, peace‐flags, comics‐speech bubbles, etc.) are deployed ranging from realistic scenes to abstract and complex visual designs. Thereby, children show themselves as literate and often humorous‐creative practitioners of visual communication.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/8692children’s drawingscritical multimodal discourse analysismetapragmaticsmultimodalitypeacepeacebuildingschoolvisual communicationwarwell‐being
spellingShingle Lisa Blasch
Nadja Thoma
Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal Analysis
Social Inclusion
children’s drawings
critical multimodal discourse analysis
metapragmatics
multimodality
peace
peacebuilding
school
visual communication
war
well‐being
title Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal Analysis
title_full Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal Analysis
title_fullStr Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal Analysis
title_short Students’ Conceptualisations of “Peace” and “War” in Drawing–Text Combinations: A Metapragmatic Multimodal Analysis
title_sort students conceptualisations of peace and war in drawing text combinations a metapragmatic multimodal analysis
topic children’s drawings
critical multimodal discourse analysis
metapragmatics
multimodality
peace
peacebuilding
school
visual communication
war
well‐being
url https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/8692
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AT nadjathoma studentsconceptualisationsofpeaceandwarindrawingtextcombinationsametapragmaticmultimodalanalysis