Change through storytelling
In today’s preschool pedagogy they work with norm critic. To understand and change what can hold back a child’s full potential. A natural way to go is norm creativity. Meaning that we should not point out the difference and instead it should be obvious which can hopefully lead to more acceptance. I have created a performative storytelling project about norms in the world of vättarna.
Story
The story begins with introducing Tova, a vätte. She loves most things; her best friend the troll Maja, climbing trees, colours and especially green. But she doesn’t like that. She wants to be green just as her friend Maja but in the world of vättarna that is not accepted. Green is the most awful colour because it is the troll’s colour. The troll is greedy, mean and thieves. Tova knows that is not true and her opinion makes her lonely and she decides to move out from the home of vättarna and move in with her best friend Maja. After a while her old friends start to miss her and decide to send her a letter. After reading the letter Tova also missed her roommates and remembered the yearly picnic is coming soon. She decides to arrange it and invites all her friends to celebrate friendship and the spring. The only thing is that everyone needs to be dressed in at least two colours, hoping that everyone can see how wonderful it is with colour and that you can find friendship in every part of the forest.
The Vätte
A vätte is a magical creature that you can find in the south of Sweden. They are quite small and diversify to everything from a house sparrow to a rat. Can in some stories disguise themselves as a frog, squirrel, toad, or another animal. Are known to have similar appearance as humans but also could look like a tomtegubbe (magical creature). Often, they are dressed in grey garments, but they can also have more colours. They live in a similar way to the Troll but without the vandalism and larceny. Prefer to live under human’s houses but they can also be found in trees, behind stones etc. They prefer to mind their own business and to not get disturbed and especially not by humans. They are also known to be invisible. If someone is disturbing their life, then they can be vengeful. The key element if you have a vätte on your property is good neighbourliness. If you will do a favour for them then you will get paid in some way. In the beginning it may look like trash but if you care about it, it will later turn into gold or money or jewellery.
