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My Feelings Power, Politics and Childhood Subjectivities
My Feelings Power, Politics and Childhood Subjectivities
Marek Tesar
To cite this article: Marek Tesar (2014) My�Feelings: Power, politics and childhood subjectivities,
Educational Philosophy and Theory, 46:8, 860-872, DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2013.781496
Abstract
This article focuses on the production of children’s literature in New Zealand. It problematizes
the current practices of releasing and distributing children’s literature, and explores these prac-
tices as technologies of control through processes of censorship and classification set by govern-
ment agencies such as the Office for Film and Literature. Decisions about what is and what is
not acceptable for children’s development, it is argued, are not neutral and are instead driven
by a neoliberal image of the ‘happy’ uncomplicated child. The article takes the example of the
state-funded and distributed My Feelings series as a widely accessible text that is embedded in
neoliberal ideology. As this series is distributed to all New Zealand early childhood centres and
kindergartens, this article explores understandings of how politics of government influence chil-
dren’s literature. The work of Václav Havel and Michel Foucault are drawn upon to demon-
strate the mechanisms of ideologically driven forms of governmental power that directly impact
on the constitution of certain types of childhoods. An example from a contrasting historical
and political discourse in the form of communist Czechoslovakia suggests unexpected synergies
between neoliberal and socialist ideological frameworks. This analysis further problematizes
notions of power in the distribution of children’s literature, and illustrates the influence that
political agendas have on the production of idealized political childhood subjectivities.
Introduction
It is central to the Havelian notion of living within a lie, Havel (1985) argues, that
every citizen, adult and child, contributes to the ideology of political rationalities, and
that therefore in these power relations everyone suffers and is a victim at the same
time, and everyone simultaneously supports and follows the leading ideology of the
governing rationalities. Havel claims then that all citizens ‘confirm the system, fulfil
the system, make the system, are the system’ (1985, p. 31, emphasis in original), and
he argues for ‘living within the truth’1 as opposed to the notion where social contracts
produce ‘lives within a lie’. Havel argues:
Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It
falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies
statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police
apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no
one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing (Havel,
1985, p. 31).
Havel’s analysis of ‘living within the truth’ and ‘living in a lie’ is seminal to his phi-
losophy. Like Havel, Foucault’s relationship with the truth is very complex and is
concerned with particular historical discourses where it gains a different meaning
(Foucault, 1980). The truth, for Foucault, is linked to the concept of power/knowl-
edge and authority (such as institutions, states or governments). Power can thus be
considered as productive, and as influencing the way in which knowledge, and there-
fore truth, is produced. Truth is thus linked to each discourse, debated and con-
structed within power relations. As Foucault notes:
My intention was not to deal with the problem of truth, but with the problem
of truth-teller or truth-telling as an activity … issue for me was rather the
attempt to consider truth-telling as a specific activity, or as a role. (Foucault,
2001, p. 169)
Foucault’s relationship with the dominant discourse is problematic as he argues for
the ‘insurrection of subjugated knowledges’ (Foucault, 2003, p. 7). What Foucault
calls subjugated knowledge is not knowledge on the same level as scientific knowl-
edge, but knowledge that is not officially approved or recognized and that sometimes
has not even surfaced. Foucault’s (2003, p. 9) comment that ‘genealogies are, quite
specifically, antisciences’ emphasizes his position on subjugated knowledge as a per-
spective of thinking of genealogies as a means not only to research subjugated knowl-
edges but to ‘fight the power-effects characteristic of any discourse that is regarded as
scientific’. So, Foucault’s relationship with the discourse of dominance is the perspec-
tive of research and support of knowledges on the fringes of scientific, officially
approved knowledge.
Arac (1994) sees both Foucault’s and Havel’s texts as political debates, in which
notions of government agencies, technologies of government and the production of
subjectivities are central to some of their seminal work. Foucault refers to government
as an agency concerned with the ‘conduct of conduct’ (Foucault, in Dean, 1999,
p. 10), while Larner and Walters (2004, p. 496) note that ‘the practice of government
involves the production of particular “truths” about these entities. Seeking out the
864 Marek Tesar
history of these truths affords us critical insights concerning the constitution of our
societies and ourselves’.
American Beetles
The construct of the ‘American beetle’,2 which was the subject of stories in Czecho-
slovakia under Communist governance (1948–1989), is used to illustrate how govern-
ing agencies under non-neoliberal ideologies produce children’s literature. After
World War II, Europe was infected with the Colorado potato beetle, a yellow-
and-black striped bug. With the high demand for potatoes during World War II, and
the increased transportation of food products in a globalizing Europe, infestations of
Colorado potato beetles spread quickly. In the early 1950s this issue was politicized,
resulting in all citizens in Czechoslovakia becoming engaged in the ‘fight’ to eliminate
this pest.
The government agencies3 issued guidance about how to deal with areas infected
by the beetle, and outlined a complex process of reporting the beetle to the local
council, together with evidence in the form of a bug or an infested plant (Formán-
ková, 2008). This evidence was forwarded to a specialist government branch, which
sought verification from the agricultural committee. If the presence of the pest was
confirmed, the farm raised warning signs about the epidemic, and restrictions on the
transportation of goods were imposed. If an outbreak was considered to be a mild
case, children from the local area were sent to the farm to pick up beetles and larvae,
and to kill them by drowning them in a jar of kerosene. In cases of serious or wide-
spread infestations, adults and the militia were called to provide support. In the
1950s the Czechoslovak government published a manifesto, which appeared on the
front page of newspapers, declaring that this pest had been found in most of the farms
close to the borders of Western Germany and Austria. The manifesto stated that ‘the
dangerous pest has been artificially implemented, purposely, through the winds and
clouds, by Western imperialists and secret agents’ and that governing agencies would
make sure that the working class responds with ‘a total, mass fight against the beetle’
(Sokol, 2009, p. 3). This meant that the whole nation, including children, was asked
to defend Czechoslovakia against this ‘invasion’. The stories of the American beetle
thus constructed aspects of childhoods; and particular childhood subjectivities were
produced through flyers, pamphlets, children’s literature and motion pictures about
this threat.
Teachers shared the latest news on the fight against the beetle with children to pro-
vide ideological support to the task, as instructed by the government agencies. They
went with the children into the fields, picking up beetles and larvae, and dropping
them into bottles filled with kerosene that were tied around their waists. After the
search, the children reported to the local government office where they handed in the
dead American beetles. The celebration ended with the honouring of the most
effective search parties, rewarding them with pens or balls (Formánková, 2008). This
process was emphasized in a children’s book which graphically portrays happy children
with kerosene bottles full of dead American beetles, holding banners stating: ‘We will
not surrender’ (Sekora, 1950b, p. 12). Children picking up and killing American
My Feelings 865
beetles from potato fields even appeared on the front cover of the preschool children’s
magazine Wild Thyme.4
The graphic stories published in Wild Thyme also produced important illustra-
tions of how children were supposed to act and behave. The last page of Wild
Thyme was devoted to the adventures of Ferda the Ant, a famous cartoon ant
character, and the way in which he engaged with political and societal concerns.
The series was called ‘Adventures of young Ferda the Ant’. In one such colourful
cartoon story, Ferda encounters American beetles (Sekora, 1950a). As he spots
them, Ferda gathers his comrade-ants. He suggests beating the American beetles
up, so it would be easier for children to collect them. Ferda calls on children and
leads them to the injured American beetles, where children pick them up and drop
them into their kerosene jars. In the final scene, the children put American flags
into the jars filled with dead American beetles, while Ferda sings the final victory
lines: ‘They are already in the bottle, already dead. They have fallen under the
flag of their masters’ (Sekora, 1950a, p. 16).
Further children’s literature was produced on this topic, such as Sekora’s (1950b)
picture book About a bad potato beetle——About an American beetle, that wanted to eat
from our plates. The American beetle is beautifully illustrated in this book, and the
message is very clear: the American beetle has invaded the country to attack not only
the fields, but also children’s homes, to eat off children’s plates and to destroy their
happy childhoods. It conveyed that not only the fields needed to be protected; but
the childhoods themselves, in their homes and at the dining table. This book provides
clear guidance on how to act, and uses a collective ‘we’: ‘We must do, we will fight,
and we will prevail’. The book contains detailed and magnified pictures of both eggs
and larvae, so that children could learn how to recognize various forms of the Ameri-
can beetle, and how to search for, spot and report this enemy. Childhoods were con-
structed by the knowledge imparted about how to report these foreign, strange
elements to government agencies. They learnt to find an adult and seek support:
‘Children will not miss a single leaf. They will find every spot where larvae sit. Chil-
dren will collect every beetle and put it into the bottle. They will report and signpost
every infected spot’ (Sekora, 1950, p. 9). At the end of the book childhoods were
assured: do not worry, your plates will be saved, as long as ‘we extinguish the last
potato bug’ (p. 11). So the purpose was not to prevent epidemics of American beetles
or to have them under control, but to ensure that the pest was fully eradicated. Chil-
dren were told that the whole world not only would agree with this, but would be cel-
ebrating, as the ‘last enemies of peace will also be extinct’ (p. 11). The accompanying
picture features a full plate of saved potatoes, and an American beetle pinned inside a
box, alongside a warplane painted in the colours of the flag of the USA, at a victori-
ous 1:1 ratio with the American beetle. This children’s literature was instrumental in
producing loyal, supportive childhood subjectivities, knowledgeable about what con-
stitutes good and bad in the governing ideologies,5 so as to protect (and produce)
happy childhoods.
866 Marek Tesar
consider the themes and topics raised in their stories. On the one hand, children’s
literature needs to attract children, parents, early childhood centres and the publish-
ers, while on the other hand it must fulfil the criteria of not being potentially harmful
to children or childhoods. A series such as My Feelings, published in New Zealand
and disseminated to all New Zealand early childhood settings, is categorized in this
way. The authors and publishers must therefore apply notions of self-censorship, in
the sense of self-regulating their selection of themes and topics. Authors govern them-
selves, similarly to the self-regulation to which writers in the post-totalitarian society
had to subject themselves when publishing children’s literature. This self-censorship
can be implemented on a conscious or an automatic level, as it deals with concerns
and recommendations of themes that are, or are not appropriate, as produced within
the dominant ideology of the political rationality. These acts of self-censorship result
in certain children’s books and stories being selected over others, and therefore certain
truths are produced. Related to this, certain themes are privileged, while others are
excluded.
The Office aims to protect children from harm and to produce certain types of
childhood subjectivities through classification and censorship. The Office states its
intentions to protect children and childhoods through censorship, and that is about
protecting the public interest. It goes on to say:
To a greater or lesser degree, censorship in New Zealand has always
focused on protecting children from the harmful effects of certain types of
material. Under the Classification Act, a publication (such as a film or video
game) has to be judged to be injurious to the public good before it can be
restricted or banned. In addition, under the Bill of Rights Act 1990, the
Classification Office has to show in its decisions that any restriction is a jus-
tified limit on New Zealanders’ freedom of expression. (Office of Film and
Literature Classification, 2011a)
The Office recognizes the tension between the freedom to publish and the protec-
tion of the consumer. This act of government protects children by ensuring minimal
exposure to risks and harm, and by implementing this form of censorship produces
happy, positive childhoods. The Office claims that sometimes ‘making the publication
available to everyone would be harmful, or injurious to the public good’ (Office of
Film and Literature Classification, 2011b), and that children need to be protected
first and foremost. However, as Christensen (2003, p. 238) argues, what may actually
be ‘protected is not a possible child audience but the adult critic’. In this sense, I now
turn to analyse how the My Feelings stories fulfil this task of producing childhood sub-
jectivities, while minimizing harm, by portraying happy childhoods where every ten-
sion is resolved and all endings are ‘happy’.
My Feelings
Technologies of government, such as censorship and classification, are visible touches,
controls and points of interest that are applied directly by a governing agency, in this
case The Office of Film and Literature, to various audiovisual releases and publications
868 Marek Tesar
in New Zealand. However, other decisions are made by the Ministry of Education in
its official capacity as the government publishing agency, about which children’s litera-
ture is selected, how it is advertised and supported, and the way in which it will be dis-
seminated. Christensen (2003, p. 238) claims that ‘picture books are produced under
specific historical and ideological conditions’. The publications in the My Feelings ser-
ies are made available to all early childhood settings as they are distributed cost-free by
the New Zealand Ministry of Education. The Ministry in its information to the public
(as a potential consumer) claims that this series has been produced ‘to support adults
in early childhood education services to help children recognize everyday feelings and
emotions and learn positive ways of expressing and dealing with them’ (Ministry of
Education, 2009). In the past 15 years over 30 stories have been published within this
series and distributed to early childhood settings and junior schools. These books and
stories do not go through the approval process of the Office, but instead they are
approved by another government agency, the Ministry of Education, to become the
official flagship series dealing with children’s feelings and emotions. As official docu-
ments recommended by the Ministry, they suggest through picture stories the ‘right’
behaviours for dealing with difficult situations, and the ‘correct’ solutions to children’s
issues and concerns. These stories thus support the production of happy childhoods
and childhood subjectivities, producing the ‘right’ childhood tools to know and under-
stand how to act upon the difficult situations arising within neoliberal ideologies.
The My Feelings series presents the official, desired outcomes of neoliberal child-
hoods and how children should think about their feelings. In the story Mum’s grumpy
clothes (McMillan, 2009), Rory does not want to attend the childcare centre. He
wants to stay at home with his mum, and he is very unhappy that she is returning
back to the workforce——an action promoted by the neoliberal political discourse and
policies. In this colourful picture book, Rory blames his mum’s work costume for his
misery, and claims that every time she has it on, she gets really grumpy. Rory wants
his mum to stay at home with him, and not to wear her grumpy clothes. When they
drive together to the childcare centre in the car, and mum tries to hug Rory, he com-
ments resentfully: ‘Watch out. Your grumpy clothes might get messy’ (McMillan,
2009, p. 9). However, in the childcare centre the teacher recognizes the problem, as
Rory draws pictures of what his mum wears when she is happy and when she is not.
His teacher supports their relationship, and uses the available technology to commu-
nicate with Rory’s mum. Together with Rory, she scans his picture and emails it to
her. Rory’s mum realizes what is happening, and changes her behaviour when she
wears her ‘grumpy clothes’. The happy, positive outcome of the story is promoted by
achieving the desired outcomes for a child, parent, early childhood centre and govern-
ing agency, as the child settles into the centre and mum returns to the workforce in
her corporate outfit.
Another book in the My Feelings series, Almost five, deals with a child’s transition
from the early childhood setting into school (Holt, 2009). The story revolves around
a girl, Isabella, who does not want to leave kindergarten. In her own words, despite
her family being excited about her birthday, she ‘liked being almost five’ (Holt, p. 3).
Isabella understands what being five means. Like other children, she does not want to
be going away from her friends and kindergarten to start school. She wants to stay at
My Feelings 869
kindergarten, as she ‘didn’t want to grow up fast’ (p. 3). The compulsory school age
in New Zealand is not five but six; however, the majority of children begin school on
the day after their fifth birthday. Isabella’s teachers and parents support her by taking
her to visit the new school, and when she comes back to the kindergarten she feels
happy to transition to the school setting. On her return from her school visit, Isabella
tells the other children in the kindergarten not to worry about this big step. Her friend
Hinewai seeks confirmation of what she experienced, and Isabella confirms to her that
school is ‘just like kindergarten’ (Holt, 2009, p. 16). The Ministry states that the My
Feelings series enables children to express themselves with respect to their feelings, in
line with ‘the principles, strands and goals in Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Matauranga mo
nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa/Early Childhood Curriculum’ (Ministry of Education, 2011).
These My Feelings publications produce a certain public discourse of neoliberal
childhoods, and at the same time they produce childhood subjectivities in early child-
hood education settings. They use notions of the everyday (in this sense ‘neoliberal’)
feelings of a child to affirm the expectations of a neoliberal childhood and to model
desired ways of behaving within it. The Ministry of Education enacts its ideologically
charged politics of care in publishing and distributing the My Feelings literature, pro-
ducing political childhood subjectivities that are good, content and happy, through
the public discourse of early childhood education. My Feelings stories resolve the ten-
sions identified in ways that do not challenge the neoliberal discourse of political
rationalities and instead produce clean, smooth language and solutions. What, on the
other hand, if children were given the agency to act on and be part of the solution?
For instance, what if Rory’s mum were to decide to stay at home with him, and work
from home? What if Isabella were to stay a year longer in the kindergarten, instead of
transitioning to school at five? These complications are not addressed in the My Feel-
ings series; however, some of these subversive, less desirable notions are considered in
other literature found in early childhood settings. The My Feelings series, however,
represents children’s stories that have been prepared, produced, recommended,
shipped and delivered for free to all early childhood centres in New Zealand. The
concern therefore is not whether they are actually being read and used, but that the
publisher, governed by the Ministry, believes that these particular books contain mes-
sages of such importance that they should be promoted in such an influential way to
impact on children and their childhoods.
Concluding Comments
Havel identifies three points that construct the modern threat to humanity in every
political construct: consumerism, apathy and living a private life (Alexandru, 2006).
While Havel’s writing focuses on analysing living within the post-totalitarian condition
and Western power structures of the 1980s, his ideas are relevant to the current New
Zealand neoliberal discourse. He writes:
It would appear that the traditional parliamentary democracies can offer no
fundamental opposition to the automatism of technological civilization and
the industrial-consumer society, for they, too, are being dragged helplessly
along by it. People are manipulated in ways that are infinitely more subtle
870 Marek Tesar
Notes
1. Havel’s notion of the ‘truth’ is not of a Cartesian nature; he does not seek the ultimate
truth. His writing is mostly concerned with the overall understanding of openness and hon-
esty (Havel, 1985); and truth is an existential statement underlying his experience within
the ideology of the ruling political rationalities. Havel emphasizes the importance of truth
as a subversive story, and not as an ultimate positivistic truth. Truth in Havel’s writing can
be seen as something unidentifiable without understanding a ‘lie’, as for example in Havel’s
opinion, in the public discourse of the ideological statements of governing agencies (Havel,
1985). Therefore, Havel is more concerned with the tension between the truth and the lie,
than with what necessarily constitutes the truth itself.
2. All citizens in Czechoslovakia, including children, were engaged into the ‘fight’ against this
enemy: Colorado potato beetle, labelled as the American beetle. This was prevalent in what
in Havel’s term is the totalitarian period, despite American beetles prevailing in much
milder form into the post-totalitarian era of the 1970s and 1980s.
3. In the American Beetle story government agencies refers to the Ministry of Education, and
other national and local government bodies influenced by the Czechoslovak Communist
Party and its ideology.
4. Materˇı´dousˇka in original.
5. I do not claim that children have become objects; they were subjects, and in the Havelian
sense subjectified as both victims and supporters. I am not concerned in this article with
how many children actually believed, supported or were victims of this propaganda or sto-
ries. I am concerned with the production of the literature, and how it produced certain
truths and subjectified children into subject positions where they were supposed to become
someone and believe in something.
6. Sometimes it was not the theme that was banned, but the author.
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