This book invites children to read it from left to right, back to front, upside down and to actively take part in the search of another side of peace. They will find out who the philosopher Immanuel Kant was and what he wrote about peace, but also: are tomatoes vegetable or fruit? Why was grandpa so quiet about his past? And what do you do if something is completely incomprehensible?
The book is the result of the 'Kant for Kids' project, an endeavour aimed to translate Kant's concept of perpetual peace, and namely his six preliminary articles from 1795 on the conditions for perpetual peace between states, into a terminology accessible and understandable for children. The translation thus entails not only adapting Kant’s text but also linking it to a contemporary political, social and economic context. In other words, the project took Immanuel Kant’s monumental work as an inspiration for a creative and playful take on peace.
Children as contributors to peace
'Kant for Kids' is part of the joint project 'Redrafting Perpetual Peace' of Utrecht University's Centre for the Humanities and the Humanities Center of Syracuse University. This book widens the scope of the 'Redrafting Perpetual Peace' project by inviting children to take part in the conversation as active interlocutors, by asking what kind of stories they have to share about the idea of peace and how they can actively contribute to peace themselves.
The book is illustrated by Toa Maes, and co-written by Toa Maes, Brandon Pakker, Yvette Wijnandts, and Ruben van den Mark. They were supervised by Janina Pigaht, Artist in Resident of the Centre for the Humanities.
- Title: Aan de andere Kant van vrede
- Authors: Toa Maes, Ruben van den Mark, Brandon Pakker and Yvette Wijnandts
- ISBN: 9789082381917
- Original design, layout and image processing: Katja Määttä and Aura Jgamadze (firstname.lastname@example.org)
- Final design: Rosa van der Velde
- Production and copyrights: Centre for the Humanities, Utrecht University
More information about the book and 'Redrafting Perpetual Peace' project: http://redraftingperpetualpeace.org