Holistic leisure education through the Czech Rapid Arrows comics

Abstract

This paper focuses on a topic interconnecting potential use of comics in education processes. While previous research demonstrates such a link in formal education, from preschool institutions up to the middle grades, particularly with regard to development of arts and literacy, the educational impact in informal education has been neglected. The text analyses the main aspects of the content of the comics series on the example of the Czech Rapid Arrows comic and its author Jaroslav Foglar, the values of which are physical activity and health, a romantic landscape and dwelling in nature, the ethical aspects of morality and goodness, selfless work and helping others, a holistic framework of activity, the importance of romance, adventure and challenges. The stories are therefore "everyday adventures", inspiring to the reader to experience his own adventures without needing a fantasy stage. The text also points out previous reflections, not only in the dialogue of papers on comics, but also in the fields of literary science, pedagogy and religious studies. Therefore, the article emphasize that comics can be used in informal leisure education, with holistic development of the entire personality in various aspects of human existence.

Informal education for boys only? The theme of gender in the work of Jaroslav Foglar

“…Although some of his writing has been translated into Slovak and Polish, and there is a Hungarian, German, Russian and Esperanto translation of one of his books, none has been translated into English, which has a similar role to Latin in medieval international communication. Partial scholarly probes into Foglar's work through the prism of comic studies (Alaniz, 2008;Jirásek, 2020b) and pedagogy (Jirásek, 2020a;Jirásek & Turcova, 2017) are better known.…”

Gender Themes in Czech Books for Children of Younger School Age

“…Therefore, we do not infer social discrimination or social injustice from the results either, since we do not encounter any erosion of respect for any individual in terms of gender in the children's literature analysed. We are also led to this by the specific context of boys' literature in Bohemia, represented by the work of the writer Jaroslav Foglar, who greatly influenced the comics scene, children's literature and educational efforts under the auspices of Scouting ideals (Alaniz, 2008;Jirásek, 2021a). This author was quite deliberately writing about and for boys; his construction of intersexual relations is heavily unbalanced.…”

Children's literature as a motivational factor for physical activities through the example of Jaroslav Foglar

“…Jaroslav Foglar was a Czech writer of adventure literature, author of comics (Foglar, 2003b(Foglar, , 2003c, editor of youth magazines, scout educator (Šantora, 2014; Šantora et al, 2012), creator of a number of games and educational programmes, and a prototype of an experiential educator (Jirásek, 2020a(Jirásek, , 2020bJirásek & Turcova, 2017). These aspects of his educational and literary endeavour have gained attention not only in the field of the study of comics (Alaniz, 2008;Prokůpek et al, 2014), literary studies (Hybler, 1999;Lopatka, 1991;Nezkusil, 1991;Vučka, 2015), and history (Bauer, 2018;Dvorský, 2011), but also more recently in religious studies (Hošek, 2017(Hošek, , 2018.…”