Natural Enchantment versus Commodified Enchantment: Idealized Childhoods in Norway and the United States

• In Event: 304 - Regular Session. Children/Youth/Adolescents: Youth Identities: Voices and Perspectives

Abstract

Data on children’s every day lives in Norway and the United States were gathered through the circulation of teddy bears and an accompanying diary to members of first grade classrooms in Oslo and the New York mid-Hudson Valley. One of the overarching questions addressed in the comparative international project discussed in this paper is: “What are ideal childhoods made of around the world?” We explored this question by examining how families choose to represent themselves in diary narratives, what they think is worth mentioning about their lives and what kinds of activities, practices, traditions, and rituals they think are appropriate and ideal to convey. As the data that we gathered suggests, the role of commodities and the representation of commercialized childhoods varies across cultural contexts. The data produced by children and family members in the U.S. suggests that an American ideal childhood is “made of” a wide array of name-brand products, whereas the narratives that emerged in the Norwegian diary data seemed to emphasize a range of other things, such as the importance of being physically active in the outdoors and the value of social networks.

Author

• Erendira Rueda, Vassar College