ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the genealogy and importance of gender studies within children’s literature research. Following Boel Westin’s imperative about the importance of a situated knowledge of one’s research field, we show how feminist and gender studies have provided children’s literature research with analytical tools, but also how children’s literature research provides gender studies with equally important perspectives, such as age and gendered conceptualizations of children. The chapter sketches some pivotal historical lines and discusses the subfields of girlhood and boyhood studies. The theoretical concepts are exemplified with readings of global children’s literature, highlighting how a gender perspective can inform such research.
