Exploring Materiality in Childhood

Maarit Alasuutari is Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her field of study includes childhood studies, parent-professional collaboration, early childhood education policy and documentation in early education. Marleena Mustola is Senior Lecturer of Early Childhood Education at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She specialises in multidisciplinary childhood studies and her current research interests include children’s rights and participation, posthuman philosophy and childhoods in social media. Niina Rutanen is Professor in Early Childhood Education at the Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research focuses mainly on transitions in early childhood education and pedagogies for infants and toddlers.

Introduction: Toward a Material Study of Childhood. Part I. Body, embodiment, and materiality. 1. Becoming unruly? Bodies and materials in a primary classroom. 2. Embodying discipline: Remembering bodies and cultural values in Chinese kindergartens. 3. From ‘Drilling’ to ‘Thrilling’: French Toilet Training Literature and the Child’s Body. Part II Materiality in/as relations. 4. Connected play as intra-action: Doing CupSong with YouTube. 5. The web service Wilma as an actant in school life – student perspective. 6. Schoolbags and schoolchildren between school and family. 7. Thrown into and out of togetherness – children’s experiences of living apart from, with and in multi-local families. Part III Space, environment and materiality. 8. Affordances for children’s playfulness as they walk through urban spaces. 9. Journeys through space: The interplay of mobility, materiality and social life in early childhood centres. 10. Young children’s participation as a living practice: the role of material and emotional relations during the transition to primary school. 11. ‘(Do not) touch’. ‘(Do not) run’. – On Bodies’ Plasticities: Curation and Exhibition Design with/for Children in Art Museums. Conclusion.