Nataliіa Marchenko

The discourse of women’s destiny in the modern Ukrainian biographical book for children and youth

Abstract: Ukrainian biographical publications for children and adolescents of 1991–2020, which represent the discourse of women’s destiny, are analyzed. It is stated that gender identity is one of the key to the formation of personality, and biographical publications for children and youth, covering gender issues, are crucialfor the formation of the collective memory of the community. It has been proven that the sharp increase in biographical publications for children and young people about women in the Ukrainian book market in recent years is due to the latest trends in inclusiveness, not just feminist ideas. It was found that the discourse of women’s biography in children’s reading in Ukraine is developing in accordance with Western European trends, largely imitating and repeating the narratives and algorithms developed there.The analysis of a number of biographical series and collective collections for children and youth ("Zhyttia vydatnykh ditei", "12 baliv", "Apriori – ditiam","Syla divchat: malenki istorii velykykh vchynkiv", "Tse zrobyla vona"), as wellas documentary stories Nelli Topska and biographical tales Yevhen Bilousov), of different years of the publication showed that the selection of individuals and their positioning still remain traditional. The choice of a person for a biographical story is determined by a woman’s success, leader ship in a certain field of activity, and not by her independent position or ability to defend her position in the “maleworld”. The emphasis is not on universal, but on "purely feminine" virtues of personality. Achievement, the "value" of a woman is "established" by comparing her with the "great" men who influenced her upbringing, formation, worked in thesame field and so on.

Keywords: biographical publications for children and youth, book for childrenand youth, biography, biography of women, gender studies.

  Full-text PDF    https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.20.068     Citation

• Nataliіa Marchenko (Institute of Biographical Research, VNLU (Kyiv, Ukraine), [email protected]) ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9814-0826

Cite:
Nataliіa Marchenko (2020). The discourse of women’s destiny in the modern Ukrainian biographical book for children and youth. Biographistica Ukrainica, (20) 68-87. (In Ukrainan). https://doi.org/10.15407/ub.20.068

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