Stories for children—the New South Africa's vehicle for its new system of values

Abstract

Stories for children, as part of every society's literature from its beginnings, have primarily been a vehicle for communicating the values and beliefs of a specific society during a specific period. South African literature for children has not been an exception to this phenomenon. For a long period of time it has been written by whites for whites, and has paid no or little attention to the needs of the many black children of our country. Even today the literature for Afrikaans- and English- speaking children occupies the dominant position in our literary system and promotes an uncritical acceptance of a social, economic and political structure based on racial segregation and discrimination. Literature for black children has always been and still is the underdog of all the literary systems in South Africa. It is continuously ejected to the periphery of the literary polysystem and this has a negative influence on every level of its existence.