Childhoods & Leisure: Cross-Cultural and Inter-Disciplinary Dialogues (Leisure Studies in a Global Era)

This edited volume brings together interdisciplinary scholarship on children’s everyday leisure from across the globe, addressing key questions around children’s agency, rights, child-adult relations, and social change. It is positioned to inaugurate a new frontier of research within leisure studies. Leisure theory has historically been adult-centric and based in the global north, and consequently, children’s lived experiences of leisure have remained marginal to theory-building exercises within leisure studies since its inception. As the call for decolonizing leisure studies grows, this book champions a cross-cultural and social justice agenda that does not privilege global north childhoods but acknowledges the multiplicity of lived childhoods across the globe and their inter-connections. By drawing attention to children’s leisure – across multiple genres such as organized leisure, sports, play, and digital leisure among others, this edited volume drives a new wave of research that speaks simultaneously to leisure studies and childhood studies and thereby advances the intellectual remit of global leisure studies. Foreword Preface Acknowledgements About the Book Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Introduction When Leisure Studies Met Childhood Studies: Laying Grounds for Cross-Cultural and International Studies of Children’s Leisure Children and Childhood Leisure Through a Cross-Cultural Lens International and Cross-Cultural Study of Children’s Leisure Studying Children’s Leisure Through Social Evolutionary Lens Studying Children’s Leisure Through ‘Children’s Culture’ Lens Studying Children’s Leisure Through Developmental Lens Studying Children’s Leisure Through Critical Childhood Studies Lens Organisation of the Book References Part I: Children’s Rights and Social Justice Chapter 2: Whose leisure is it anyway? The challenges of providing children’s leisure from a cross-cultural playwork perspective Introduction: The Evolution of PARS Playwork Adulteration and the Emic-etic Dilemma PARS in Translation The Emic-Etic Politics of Space Politics, Policy, Parenting and PARS Tensions for Adults ‘providing children’s leisure’ from a PARS Perspective Conclusion References Chapter 3: Play for All: Fostering Inclusive Play Spaces in India Introduction Play and Disability in India Efforts Towards Designing Inclusive Play Spaces in India Inclusive Play Designing Inclusive Play Spaces- The Case of Kilikili Conclusion References Chapter 4: “Social Justice” Despite Sickness: Play and Leisure for Children and Young People in Hospital Fraser’s Social Justice and Parity of Participation North American Perceptions of Children’s Rights and Abilities The State of Children’s Rights in Healthcare Settings Certified Child Life Specialists and Children’s Healthcare Rights The Development of Hospital-Based Play Programs Re-conceptualizing Children’s Agency in Hospital Play Quadrant One: Programmed Play Quadrant Two: Set-up/Intentional Play Quadrant Three: Flexible/ “Give Back Control” Play Quadrant Four: Open Door/Organic Play Summarizing the Four Quadrant Model for Children’s Agency in Hospital Play Leisure, Play, and Power for Hospitalized Children Reconsidering Child Life Practice and Hospital Play Paradigms The Road Ahead References Part II: Social Identities and Cultural Politics Chapter 5: Hobby Horses: A Hobby, Sport or Pure Play? A Contemporary Plaything as Part of Girlhood Leisure Activities in Finland Introduction What Is the Hobby Horse Phenomenon About? Young Women on (Hobby) HorseBack: From Modern Play to Social Media and Racetracks The Many Offerings of the Toy horse—Physical, Functional, Fictional and Affective Physicality (Materiality and Artefactuality) Functionality (Playability) Fictionality (Storytelling) Affectivity (Emotional Attachment) Hobby Horses, a Mobilizing Toy Media Discussion: How the Toy Horse Became ‘Sportified’ Conclusions: Full Gallop Towards Sportifying Media Play References Chapter 6: Policing Pastime: Child Audiences, Cinemas and the Segregation of Leisure in South Africa 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Policing Children and Cinema’s Public Space 6.3 Cinema in the Making of a White City 6.4 The Coming of Age of Cinemas 6.5 Conclusion References Archival Sources and Newspapers Books, Theses and Articles Part III: Space, Place and Meaning-Making Chapter 7: Children’s Participation and Leisure Possibilities in an Institutionalized Leisure Arena: The Case of Swedish School-Age Educare Centres Introduction The Swedish School-Age Educare Centre ‘Meaningful leisure’ at the Intersection Between Leisure, Education and Care Participation Children’s Understanding of Leisure and Participation in the SAEC Setting SAEC: A Place for Leisure Opportunities SAEC: A Place with Leisure Limits Being a Pupil in an Institutionalized Leisure Practice Institutionalized Leisure?: Discussion and Implications References Chapter 8: Children’s Meanings of Third Places for Leisure in Jakarta’s Low-Income Neighbourhoods Introduction Third Places as Leisure Spaces Play as a Leisure Activity Methodology Study Context Participatory Drawing and Daily Conversation: Children as the Regulars” of Third Places Findings & Discussion The Contexts of Children’s Leisure Activities Children’s Meanings of Third Places for Leisure Experiences The Built Third Places: The ‘Warung’ and the ‘Masjid’ The Pop-up Third Places: The Street and the Fishing Game Conclusion References Chapter 9: Negotiating Informalities of Leisure: Leisure Among Slum-Dwelling Children Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines Introduction Leisure as Tactics Methodology Children as Mediators of Leisure Slum Conditions Leisure as Tactics in Slum Informalities Leisure and Bio-culture Informalities Slum Collective Leisure Continuum of Negotiations: Tactics, Nuisance, and Pride Celebrated Informalities, Romanticised Agency? Conclusion References Chapter 10: Playing, Working, and Learning in Flux: Perspectives from African Post-forager Childhoods Introduction: Leisure, Culture, and Children Background: The San and the Hadza Leisure and Hunter-Gatherer Foundational Schemas Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods Social Change and Post-forager Children Concluding Remarks References Index