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=Some notes from Sarah James=
James, S. (1990) Is there a 'place' for children in geography? /Area/ 22, 378-83
Quote (p.379)
"Land use and facilities which involve children are often different to those used by adults. hence children's 'places' form a context for behaviour which is fundamentally different from the context of adult behaviour. Even when children share the same settings as adults, such as the home or public space, parks and shopping centres, what they expect and what they are expected to do there is likely to differ, and thus we see variations in ways in which children and adults experience the same environment. For example, in parks the children use the space for play; physical and emotional exploration and development of various kinds; whilst for the adults who accompany the children the space may perform a social function, a place to meet and talk to other parents and child-minders.
"The establishment and distribution of land uses of central importance to children are politically and economically determined, but children remain largely outside the decision-making systems..."
"...children may find nothing that is attractive to them in the school playground although the school and its surroundings are one of the few places which are actually designedspecirfically for them. And yet, there is ample evidence that many children's activities do not take place in these specialised settings, with many children making use of derelict land or simply playing in the street rather than the immaculate purpose-built playground."
"Attention is increasingly focussed on people (usually women) /with/ children..."
adults physically stronger
more experienced
more autonomous (freedom of use of motor transport etc, access to wider range of transport)
children's territory is more specified, homogenous and restricted.
children less able to escape (may lead to emotional problems, and frustrated desire to escape and be free?)
children's environments are "protected" and "managed", kept separate
bond between women and children can be seen as a bond of shared oppression.
"...this oppression is intertwined and mutually reinforcing in such complex ways that it is difficult to talk about the liberation of women without also including children."
children's interpretations of spaces differ from those of adults (Hugh Matthews' work)
different frames of reference
different goals (frames of interpretation in a pragmatist way of thinking)
"An immediate implication for a geography of children is that, while it may be necessary, it is not sufficient to examine adults' and children's geographical behavioour patternsand perceptions of spcae, find that they differ, and document the differences. We must also uunderstand how these differences come about. We must incorporate the fact that adult actions mediate the relationship between children and the environment in many circumstances, and vice versa. Furthermore, adults are ultimately responsible for forming the environments which influence both children's and adults' positions in the social and power structures..."
Finally put together some ResearchThoughts outlining my initial ideas for my research project.
Haven't posted my daily notes for ages - oops. Recently I have been reading Bateson's Steps To an Ecology of Mind; Sturrock & Else's Colorado Paper, and looking at lots of papers on children's geographies.
This is really interesting me at the moment. I hated geography at school! But this stuff is cool. It's going to be really interesting to look at children's use of space and to bring geographic and psychogeographic perspectives to my existing playwork background perspective on children's play.
I'm not sure about the psychoanalytic approach that Gordon Sturrock brings; I mean, I don't exactly disagree with it, it's just not helpful to me with my existing biases and prejudices. I'm sure there is a valuable healing role for playwork, and I really dig the theoretical approach Sturrock and Else bring with their analysis of the play frame, play drive, play cues and the role of the playworker, and the dangers of adulteration.
I really love the idea of a ludic ecology.
I'm just not so sure about all the primitive Freudian stuff, the mythic consciousness and the sort-of Buddhist take on consciousness. But actually most of the paper, in fact virtually all of it, is really rational and sensible when I actually read it! There's a load of stuff in psychotherapy that sounds like nonsense but Sturrock and Else have managed to make it really grounded and useful.
Edith Cobb on the other hand...
What else have I been doing? Yesterday I had a good meeting with WR about the 160 module which I will be helping to update. That will be a big job for me for the next month or so.
I have been ploughing through a load of Clifford Geertz' writings in ethnography. Pretty cool stuff, if occasionally hard to get your head around. But then I'm not trained in that field or anything like it. But I have been recommended to take an ethnographic line in my approach to my research. At the moment I prefer the biological and psycho-geographic approach. WR seemed to consider biological and ethnographic approaches to be non-complementary in some way - I didn't press her. I suppose in many ways, and in many people's opinions (not saying WR is one of them), biology and culture are pretty opposite ends of a spectrum. But of course I'm with Dennett and Pinker and see culture as a biological artefact.
So I'm happy to see ethnography as biology. What are the differences between ethnography and anthroplogy? Or does anth. subsume ethno.?
anthropology ethnography gregorybateson playwork psychotherapy
<em>"The phenomena we call 'culture' arise as people pool and accumulate their discoveries, and as they institute conventions to co-ordinate their labours and adjudicate their conflicts. When groups of people separated by time and geography accumulate different discoveries and conventions, we use the plural and call them cultures."</em>
Quoted in /Sinister storytellers, magic flutes and spinning tops: the links between play and 'popular' culture/, Sandra Smidt, /Early Years/ Vol. 24 No 1, March 2004, p.79
Smidt writes about Paula Rego, disturbing surrealist painter, "the sinister storyteller."
She reflects on the cultural influences on her grandchildren's play, and how these can scaffold their learning and inspire them to learn in self-directed and novel ways. The popular cultural influences (cartoons, Harry Potter, Pokemon etc.) are important because they click with the interests and level of understanding that children have, and so they can make sense of and assimilate what they are exposed to, and hence learn from it.
What is popular culture? In order to answer this, Smidt has first to define culture. Hence the Pinker quote above.
"Learning is to do with the transmission of culture." The passing on of accumulated knowledge, adaptations, discoveries and traditions.
To be continued...
Worked from home today, got lots of reading done on culture, play and shared meaning.
Notes on <i>Collaborative pretend play: From theory to therapy</i> by Susan Hendler Lederer (Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 2002 pp.233-255)
<b>Frameworks for collaborative pretend play in young children</b>
1. Shared script knowledge (references Schank and Abelson, 1977)
"A script is the underlying cognitive framework for an experience..."
<em>Transformations</em> between different scripts or agendas can be accomplished through <em>metacommunication</em> (Bateson, 1972)
2. Metacommunication
Metacommunication sets the 'frame' for interpretation (and thence communication)
A form of ongoing regulation of social interactions (specifically play transactions)
Check Giffin (1984) - quite old
Giffin - expressive (defining) metacomms ; and adaptive (refining/negotiating) metacomms.
Examples of metacommunication: Setting the stage for a game of doctors
Theatre metaphor - metacomms can be spoken in the voice of an off-stage director (a) or in the voice of an on-stage actor-director (b).
(a) "Let's pretend I'm the patient"
(b) "Oh doctor I'm feeling sick."
3. Rules knowledge
What are the rules? Giffin (1984):
a) Players must pretend
b) Players must collaborate * Surely "collude" would be a better verb ;-) *
<b>Relationship to language intervention</b>
Pretend play skills linked to language and literacy development, cognitive skills such as divergent thinking (what it is?) and social skills
<b>development of pretend play from solitary to collaborative</b>
Solitary pretend play begins at age 1
Piaget : decentration -> decontextualisation -> integration
Becomes increasingly complex 30 months -> 5 years
Analysis of metacommunication, script and rule observance in play can be used as a developmental diagnostic marker when assessing children's language and social development.
Example in paper.
NOTE TO SELF:
Need to read Hughes on Evolutionary Playwork and Bateson's Ecology of Mind book.
Try some Roger Schank?
FURTHER RESEARCH IDEAS
shared culture and meanings
labelling and naming
attitudes towards play, particularly the concept of free play.
research into the psychology and politics (Guardian, Ecologist) of free play rather than ... the lower politics of playwork and funding etc. However attitudes towards playwork are important in both (sorry for the dualism, maybe it's a spectrum not a division.)
