A Similarity or Difference : The Problem of Race in Australian Picture Books

The prevailing humanist ideology in fiction produced for children entails that thematic explorations of race usually pivot on the notion that humans are all created equal, regardless of race. However, this position fails to acknowledge the privileged status of whiteness as a racial category. This article examines two recent Australian picture books which explore the relationship between white and non-white identities in an Australian social context, arguing that the construction of whiteness as a normative standard of human experience must be interrogated before genuinely intersubjective race relations can be achieved.