Children’s Picture Book as Critical Practice: Constructing a Collaborative Counter-Narrative with Resettled Refugees

Even as unprecedented numbers of displaced peoples resettle across the globe, young children of all backgrounds suffer from an acute shortage of picture books featuring the perspectives of immigrants and refugees. All too often these stories are excluded from the pages of children’s picture books because the pervasive racial ideology of White supremacy dictates whose stories––and synonymously whose lives––are valued in American society. By omitting or distorting culturally divergent stories, dominant narratives remain uncontested and default. Born out of the conviction that designers must be “more conscious of the roles they play in culture, politics, and society, both serving and creating,” (Heller and Vienne, 2018) this project seeks to demonstrate a research model for how designers might engage in critical practice to confront complex social issues. This project is situated within the context of Houston, Texas, a major hub for refugee resettlement. Five Congolese-American teenagers volunteered to participate in an art and writing workshop, resulting in the creation of a composite counter-narrative intended to resist systems of oppression and erasure (Nieto and Bode, 2018). Accompanied by the designer, the refugee participants and a local immigrant artist determined the ideation for the picture book and verified direction along the way. Through participatory design, the designer facilitated the co-creation of the counter-narrative. After a multi-phase, rigorously documented process, the design outcome emerged as a shared-authorship, locally published children’s picture book to supplement the slim inventory of contemporary stories told by refugees.