This talk explores the intersection of ecology, politics, and literature in Palestinian and Israeli children's books, focusing on how environmental themes shape national narratives and ideological landscapes. Through an analysis of forty-four picture books published between 2000 and 2023, I examine the ecopolitical underpinnings of children's literature in both societies, highlighting contrasting approaches to environmental storytelling.
Palestinian children's literature intertwines ecology with nationalism, using symbols like the olive tree to represent resilience, displacement, and the struggle for land preservation. These narratives emphasize Sumud—the concept of steadfastness—depicting nature as a site of both cultural identity and political resistance against Israeli occupation. In contrast, Israeli children's literature largely eschews direct political engagement, focusing instead on urban ecological themes that contribute to a broader national image of environmental consciousness. However, this approach often aligns with greenwashing narratives, presenting Israel as a global environmental leader while omitting the ecological impact of the occupation.
By situating these literary works within broader ecocritical and postcolonial frameworks, this talk interrogates the role of children’s literature in shaping ecological consciousness and national identity. Ultimately, I propose that greater cross-cultural engagement and translation between these literary traditions could foster new conversations on environmental justice and sustainability.
Loaay Wattad is a cultural sociologist specializing in Israeli and Palestinian children's literature, with a focus on politics, war, and borders. He earned his PhD from Tel Aviv University, where his dissertation, Minor Literature for Minor Readers, provided a comparative analysis of Palestinian children's literature. Wattad has been awarded fellowships from the Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) and the Internationale Jugendbibliothek. In 2023/24 he has been a EUME Fellow at the Forum Transregionale Studien, and in 2025, he rejoins EUME as Minerva postdoctoral Fellow at the Seminar for Arabistik at Freie Universität Berlin. In 2025, he published his first children's book in Arabic, Salman the Pirate in Search of Shirts, as part of the Maktabat al-Fanoos project.
Maysoon Shibi holds a Ph.D. in Arabic literature from Tel Aviv University (2021). Her research concerns Arabic poetry in general and its Arud in particular, or what is called the metric system of poetry. Her works published in peer-reviewed journals include two studies on the rajaz meter in modern Arabic poetry, published in the Journal of Semitic Studies related to her current research at Freie Universität Berlin. Her next paper will be published by Alif Journal with Brill (2025) on muhawara poetry in Alf Layla wa Layla. In addition, the monograph of her dissertation Poetic Stanzas and Magic Statements in Palestinian Fairytales has been accepted for publication by Harrassowitz Verlag.
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