Inês BARBOSA, Instituto de Sociologia da Universidade do Porto , Portugal
João TEIXEIRA LOPES, Instituto de Sociologia da Universidade do Porto , Portugal
Lígia FERRO, Instituto de Sociologia da Universidade do Porto , Portugal
There is a consensus that the urban experience of western children - especially middle and upper class - has changed profoundly in recent decades: a greater degree of institutionalization and domestication; frenetic daily life overloaded with structured activities; drastic reduction of autonomy and independent mobility; specialization and insularization of the city (Zeiher, 2003; Tonucci, 2018), are some of the phenomena that are currently underway, creating new and more restricted childhood geographies. Underlying this, there is a concept of a threatening city, prevailing paradigms of protection, control and surveillance (Tomás, 2007) in which the “other” is associated with the “stranger danger”. In this communication, part of a broader project on Children's Right to the City (2019-2022), we focus on the different ways in which children appropriate urban space, focusing in particular on the gender dimension. To this end, we mobilize field diary records resulting from ethnographic observations in two playgrounds in Porto, Portugal; as well as visual and oral recordings of 40 preschool children from two contexts in the vicinity of the same parks. Preliminary results point to differences in interactions between peers and with adults and also in the type of play and use of space. We highlight a certain agonistic culture among boys (occupying more space, taking more risks, playing in groups and in physical activities) and a tendency for girls to be more disciplined, orderly and assume the role of caregivers. These differences were more visible when they visited the park as a group than when they went as a family, an aspect that refers to the role of peer socialization. However, we also perceive mixed spaces-time and negotiation of roles. Thus, although playgrounds continue to be “gendered spaces” that reinforce the binary gender division, gender identity is a permanent and dynamic construction (Butler, 1990) and girls more readily challenge it (Karsten, 2003).
Mots clés : childhood geographies|gender roles|safety and control|right to the city|urban ethnography
A103545IB