Mellan fabel och fakta – Djur, moral och ansvar i Läsebok för folkskolan. En jämförande analys av upplagorna 1868, 1878 och 1899

Sammanfattning

This thesis examines representations of animals in three editions of Läsebok för folkskolan, the state-distributed Swedish elementary school reader first published in 1868. The aim is to deepen the understanding of the educative and formative function of animal representations in normative teaching materials during the early development of the Swedish elementary school in the late 19th century. The study analyses the 1868, 1878 and 1899 editions, asking how animals are portrayed, to which recurring themes they are linked, and which constants and changes can be discerned across the editions.The study is conducted as a qualitative comparative text analysis, framed by John Berger’s notion of the animal as both kin and other to the human. The analysis draws on two main concepts: anthropomorphism (the attribution of human qualities such as thought, speech and moral understanding to animals) and hierarchy (how humans and animals, and different animals, are positioned in relation to one another).The results show that across all three editions, animals are used to convey ideas about morality, social order and the natural world. In fables, poems and narrative texts, they function as moral teachers, cautionary examples and figures through which humanresponsibility is tested. In factual texts, they are ordered through evaluation, usefulness and hierarchical placement. The formative function persists across the editions but is gradually reshaped: in the 1899 edition, animals more often appear in longer, child-centred narratives where observation, empathy and responsibility gain greater weight. The thesis describes this development as continuity through reshaping.