Conference Program

This contribution offers a reflection on education on differences from an intersectional and transfeminist perspective, developed through the experience of the association Scosse and the project Leggere senza stereotipi (Fierli et al. 2015; 2020). At its core lies the role of the picturebook as a mediating device that can reproduce cultural models and gender stereotypes (Gianini Belotti 1978; Turin 2003; Chabrol Gagne 2011), but also open spaces for imagination and normative deconstruction. This tension between “domestication” and “resistance” (Bruel 2022) characterizes a device that carries within itself a “semantic duplicity” (Campagnaro 2014): stories for young children are written and illustrated, but they are also selected and mediated by adults.

This dichotomous relationship is deeply infused with power, and it becomes even more pronounced in the case of wordless picturebooks. In this specific type of books, since reading does not depend on the comprehension of written language, meaning is constructed through an open dialogue with images. These images function as open questions, inspiring infinite responses and legitimizing multiple interpretations of the narrative through visual storytelling. This mechanism removes from adults the exclusive authority over reading, interpretation, and mediation, resulting in an inevitable and radical cession of power.

Within this framework, the practice of questioning emerges as a privileged pedagogical method for fostering critical awareness and a plurality of perspectives (Gamberi et al. 2010; Ghigi 2019). Through the analysis of picturebooks and comics for children, it becomes evident that “children’s questions” constitute a driving force in the construction of the self, in line with Cooley’s (1922) dialogical conception of the mind and with Freire and Faundez’s (1985) “pedagogy of the question.” Dialogue, circle time, and conversational circles (Muntoni 2005; Ginzburg 2017) are practices that restore authority and space for autonomy to children’s thoughts and processes, fostering a co-production of meanings and a horizontal form of learning grounded in listening, negotiation, and self-determination. This kind of literature also reveals children’s ability to competently address issues of gender and to question stereotypes that are internalized at an early age (Ellemers 2018; Fabes, Martin, Hanish 2019).

Since 2016, practices of questioning aimed at children and adolescents have been promoted through the project Fammi capire, which focuses on representations of bodies and sexualities in illustrated books. In dialogue with symbolic interactionism (Rinaldi 2016), this project makes it possible to create spaces for collective reflection and to observe how identities and sexual meanings are produced and negotiated in situated interaction. International literature also confirms the willingness and expressive urgency of younger generations with regard to gender identities and experiences (Ryan et al. 2013; Martino et al. 2016; Bartholomaeus et al. 2017; Perry et al. 2019).

Finally, radically deconstructive questioning practices aimed at challenging cis-heteronormativity and hierarchies of privilege (Borghi 2020; Paechter 2017; Lingiardi, Vassallo 2011) stand in contrast to “judging questions,” normative devices, and evaluative approaches. Educating children to ask questions from an early age thus becomes a transformative lever for denaturalizing the gender order and promoting inclusive, plural, and legitimizing environments for all subjectivities.