Abstract
Children’s violently themed play has long been contentious within educational policy, parenting literature, and the academe, with conflicting views as to its immediate and long-term consequences. Yet, little attention has been given to the way in which the meanings and values attributed to childhood influence these debates. Drawing on an ethnographic study of a Nursery in London, England, this article explores the different ideas about childhood contained within policies of the setting and educators’ responses to children’s violently themed play. The article draws on the work of the Bakhtinian circle to suggest educators’ complex and ambiguous responses to violently themed play need to be understood in relation to broader social contradictions connected to childhood, adult–child social relations, and early childhood education. Bakhtinian theorising is offered as an important resource for opening up meaningful dialogue about contentious issues in early childhood practice, including to taken-for-granted assumptions about childhood and violently themed play.
Résumé
Le jeu à thème violent chez les enfants a longtemps été controversé en politique de l’éducation, en littérature parentale et dans le monde universitaire, avec des opinions divergentes quant à ses conséquences immédiates et à long terme. Pourtant, la façon dont le sens et les valeurs attribuées à l’enfance influencent ces débats a reçu peu d’attention. S’appuyant sur une étude ethnologique d’une garderie de Londres, Angleterre, cet article explore les différentes idées sur l’enfance contenues dans les politiques de la garderie et les réponses des éducateurs au jeu à thème violent des enfants. L’article s’appuie sur les travaux du cercle bakhtinien pour suggérer que les réponses complexes et ambiguës des éducateurs au jeu à thème violent doivent être comprises plus largement en lien avec des contradictions sociales liées à l’enfance, aux relations sociales entre adultes et enfants et à l’éducation des jeunes enfants. La théorisation bakhtinienne est présentée comme une ressource importante pour l’ouverture d’un dialogue significatif sur les questions litigieuses dans la pratique de l’éducation préscolaire, y compris sur des postulats pris pour acquis sur l’enfance et le jeu à thème violent.
Resumen
El juego infantil basado en temas violentos ha sido fuente de disputa por largo tiempo en el ámbito de las políticas educacionales, la academia y la literatura sobre crianza parental, existiendo miradas conflictivas respecto a sus consecuencias inmediatas y de largo plazo. Aun así, se ha dado poca atención al modo en el que estos debates son influidos por los significados y valores que se atribuyen a la niñez. En base a un estudio etnográfico de un jardín de infantes en Londres, Inglaterra, este artículo explora diferentes ideas sobre la niñez contenidas en las políticas que orientan los espacios educativos y las respuestas de los educadores frente al juego infantil que tematiza la violencia. El artículo recurre al trabajo del Círculo Bajtiniano para sugerir que las respuestas complejas y ambiguas de los educadores hacia los juegos de violencia necesitan ser comprendidos en relación a contradicciones sociales más amplias, conectadas con la niñez, las relaciones adulto-infante y la educación de primera infancia. La teorización bajtiniana es ofrecida como un importante recurso para abrir un diálogo significativo sobre temas polémicos en las prácticas relacionadas a la primera infancia, incluyendo suposiciones asumidas sobre la infancia y el juego que tematiza la violencia.
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Notes
The ‘Bakhtinian circle’ refers to the group of Soviet thinkers, including Valentin Vološinov, who engaged in a scholarly dialogic community around Mikhail Bakhtin.
All names of people and places are pseudonyms.
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Rosen, R. Children’s Violently Themed Play and Adult Imaginaries of Childhood: A Bakhtinian Analysis. IJEC 47, 235–250 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-015-0135-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-015-0135-z