Lumberjanes and Hilda: Comic Series on Scouts between Ecocriticism and Ecofeminism

Among the forms of children’s literature that deal with the complex relationship between humanity and nature, comics can offer various insights on the topic for boys and girls. In particular, children’s stories have recently revitalized the scout movement, interpreting it through new values related to identity, gender and ecology. This paper will consider two comic book series on scouting, Hilda (Luke Pearson, 2011–2019) and Lumberjanes (Noelle Stevenson, 2014–2020). Both works tell the story of a diverse group of characters involved in scouting activities: the stories, developed in natural settings, portray the growth of young and peculiar characters who, through constant contact with the environment, show a strong respect for both nature and the peer group, in a peaceful and adventurous coexistence with the environment and the different forms of life that inhabit it. The essay aims to develop a first state of the art that highlights new interpretative strands in this literary genre through an ecocritical and ecofeminist lens. The study explores the two works in a comparative perspective, so as to show how comic book narratives can present interesting ecological and egalitarian dynamics, in this case through the experience of scouting.

Scouting and the Polish scouting movement and the idea of interculturalism and education in the conditions of cultural diversity

The Scout and Polish Scouting movement is characterized by the possibility of meeting and cooperation of people from different backgrounds and cultures. A natural thing for this social movement is daily confrontation with Otherness/ Alienness in conditions of cultural diversity and undertaking various forms of educational activity based on the idea of interculturalism. The study presents some partial results of a research project devoted to the content referring to the idea of interculturalism and education in the conditions of cultural diversity, present in the program studies of the scouting movement. These studies contribute to the historical trend of intercultural pedagogy and the history of education in the context of ideological assumptions and activities of children and youth organizations. The article contains a description of the applied conceptual categories and the characteristics of the precursors and the contemporary scouting movement. In a chronological order, it presents a selection of examples of the content of scouting program studies that are related to the idea of interculturalism and intercultural education.