An Ecocritical Approach to Children's Literature :Analysis of BEHİÇ AK’s Children's Books with an Ecocritical Method
Project no. 32267 · Status: Kapanmış · 2024
Summary
<p>The human effort to dominate nature has caused us to forget that we are a part of nature and guardians of the balance that exists between humans and nature. The result has been the deterioration of this balance to the detriment of nature throughclimate change and environmental pollution. While the sciences has been studying the causes and effects of this decline, artsand humanities have also responded to it by treated the issue as a legitimate field of study as well as developing a uniquecritical approach to the subject: Ecocriticism. Ecocriticism analyzes literary texts to critically discuss the disrupted balance of nature. In their pursuit of sustainable and green nature, many ecocritics have turned to children’s literature because they believe that it is important to instill ecological sensitivity from a very early age in order to internalize it and put it into practice. Turkishauthor Behiç Ak, who became famous with his numerous children’s books, has contributed significantly to ecological awareness in children’s literature and his works are best analyzed with an ecocritical lens. Throughout his books, the author consistently and refreshingly discusses important topics such as climate change, protection of the environment/nature, urbanization, concretion, human relations negatively affected by urbanization and technology, preservation of historical essence,sustainability, and internet addiction. In this study, Behiç Ak’s stories and novels that appeal to pre-school, primary and secondary school children are discussed and examined with an ecocritical approach. One of the main conclusions this study draws is that the author deploys various visuals in his books and this enhances his efforts to raise awareness about nature in children of different age groups, promote kind and humane treatment of animals, and emphasize the issues of transformation and sustainability in every aspect of human life.</p>