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Welcome to this Blog

Kia ora koutou
And welcome to this blog about my fellowship at the International Youth Library/Internationale Jugendbibliothek  (IJL) in Munich in October and November 2017.

This library was founded in 1949 by Jella Lepman and is the world's largest international library for children and young people's literature. Their work is guided by the belief that "children and your people's books are an essential part of the cultural life of a society and of a country, and as such must be preserved documented and shared".

The IJL has a fellowship programme and each year up to 15 scholars from around the world come to work on research projects using the library's books and facilitities. This is the programme I am participating in.

My project aims to extend my work on Māori/English Dual Language Picturebooks and at the Marantz Collection on Spanish-English Dual Language Picturebooks.  However, in this project I will be examining picturebooks featuring three or more languages, using a Linguistic Landscape approach, and answering questions such as What language hierarchies are present?  How is language presented in relationship to identity and culture? What assumptions are made about language and nationhood?

And as I go, I will be keeping this blog to share my experiences with friends, family, colleagues, and fellow bibliophiles.

Watch out for my first entry the week of October 16th.

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