Children and objects: affection and infection

Abstract

This paper considers young children's (aged 3-5 years) relations with objects, and in particular objects that are brought from home to school. We begin by considering the place of objects within early years classrooms and their relationship to children's education before considering why some objects are often separated from their owners on entry to the classroom. We suggest that the 'arrest' of objects is as a consequence of them being understood as 'infecting' specific perceptions or constructs of young children. We further suggest that a focus on the dichotomy between affection/infection for and of certain objects offers new possibilities for seeing and engaging with children, thus expanding the narrow imaginaries of children that are coded in developmental psychology (Burman,

Who gets to play? Access, popular media and participatory literacies

“…Additionally, affinity groups (Gee, 1996) form around play materials (e.,g., media dolls and action figures), valued as cultural capital by local peer cultures (Fernie, Madrid and Kantor 2011) creating entry vehicles that help children gain access to peer groups. Finally, children's media toys are objects of affection and infection, satisfying emotional attachments and spreading mass media stereotypes (Jones et al 2012) often with substantial impact on children's social worlds. (Pugh 2009).…”

Children and Objects

“…In the former, objects for consumption are borne out of corporate greed, and both children and childhoods are subsequently corrupted by these objects. This corporate infection of childhood brings with it a litany of negative educational, social, physical, and moral effects that are of concern to well-intentioned adults (Jones et al 2011;Schor 2004). In the latter discourse, however, children and their specific cultural ideals drive the production of media and any associated products; corporations are simply giving in to the desires of children-as-customers and childhoodas-emerging market.…”

Researching the Assemblage of Cultural Diversity in Norway

“…Through this image it is possible to ask: Who is who here and there? Somebody has instructed the girl's body into disciplinary technologies objectifying children's bodies into docile bodies, as objects to be manipulated (Jones, MacLure, Holmes, & MacRae, 2012). …”