dr. V.N. (Vera) Veldhuizen

My current project is on cognitive approaches to conflicting truth narratives in children's literature. 

Children lie. Adults present “alternative facts”. Both lies and alternative history novels have been analysed widely in children’s literature scholarship, but there is something left unexamined in between the two; alternative truth narratives. These narratives present a deeper form of deception than simple lies because of their political and social implications. Presenting a new narrative of truth is an effective form of silencing: denying something happened and replacing the story with a new narrative fills the gap of reality left by removing “truth”. This rewriting can occur on every level of interaction: from the state to the individual, within the family, within a community of peers, and potentially even between text and reader. Narratives of truth can also, however, affirm the existence of something, and open dialogue. 

How is a reader who is cognitively still developing supposed to be able to tell the difference between truth and deceit when the supposedly “expert” adult reader struggles with the very same, as is apparent through current political debates and developments? 

In this project I analyse this issue. I first focus on child readers’ abilities in recognising truth and deceit from a cognitive perspective. I then go through types of children’s stories which are particularly exemplative of this problem, as well as the adult’s concern regarding what topics children should or should not be told the truth about. Because of that I go through stories dealing with taboo topics (typically “problem” stories), politics, classic concerns regarding history such as representations of war or governmental changes, and currently topical issues such as climate change.