This is America: Using Children’s Drawings to Discern their Understanding of National Identity
This is America: Using Children’s Drawings to Discern their Understanding of National Identity

Summary/Abstract: Children’s drawings are used to explore their understanding of nation across time and place, employinga methodology that provides visually provocative results. The researchers gathered pictures drawn by childrenresponding to the prompt “This is America” in Poland and the United States in 1991 and in 2019. Six hundredpictures are digitized in a searchable database and are analyzed in three ways: (1) using thematic discourseanalysis; (2) coding for the presence of iconic images; and (3) considered for their visual eloquence. The resultscontribute to an understanding of how children construct the meaning of America, demonstrate the ability ofchildren to incorporate abstract and critical ideas in their drawings, and stimulate us to think about how we mightbetter prepare children to become creatively critical citizens, capable of participating in deliberative democracy.

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