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Practicing Belonging in Kindergarten: Children’s Use of Places and Artifacts

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Book cover Nordic Families, Children and Early Childhood Education

Part of the book series: Studies in Childhood and Youth ((SCY))

Abstract

Boldermo presents a summary of the relationship between early childhood education for social sustainability and migrant children’s negotiations of social identity and belonging in early childhood. Focusing on the football and the football pitch, the chapter draws attention to how children’s practices of belonging can be understood through their use of artifacts and places in the kindergarten. Fieldnotes, photographs and small stories from fieldwork in a multicultural kindergarten in Norway are the basis for this analysis of a migrant child’s use of the football and the football pitch. The analysis is conducted within a cultural-historical framework. The conclusion is that artifacts and places serve as tools for negotiating a social identity and practice belonging to a community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the new 2017 Norwegian curriculum document for kindergarten, the holistic process of development and learning has been continued, and the focus on sustainability has increased.

  2. 2.

    This means that the data collection and retention, as well as the participants’ anonymity, have been safeguarded in accordance with the applicable regulations. The Guidelines for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Law and Theology (Guidelines for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Law and Theology, 2016) states that researchers who involve children in their research have a particular responsibility to protect the participants in the study.

  3. 3.

    The video recordings were not analyzed in Nvivo, due to technical issues.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

    Sidsel Boldermo

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  1. Sidsel Boldermo
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Correspondence to Sidsel Boldermo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Susanne Garvis , Sonja Sheridan  & Pia Williams ,  & 

  2. Nord University, Bodø, Norway

    Heidi Harju-Luukkainen

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Boldermo, S. (2019). Practicing Belonging in Kindergarten: Children’s Use of Places and Artifacts. In: Garvis, S., Harju-Luukkainen, H., Sheridan, S., Williams, P. (eds) Nordic Families, Children and Early Childhood Education. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16866-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16866-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16865-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16866-7

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