Barns motstand som demokratisk deltaking i basebarnehagen

Abstract

New kindergarten architecture in Norway with special rooms designed for specific learning activities are claimed to present space for democratic participation. Assuming that conditions for democratic participation can only be considered related to whether and how children participate, new architecture as context for children’s participation is questioned. Episodes from a fieldwork in such a kindergarten demonstrate that contrasts of the architecture, indicating both freedom of choice and regulations, are emerging in routine situations where children are shifting from one activity to another. In these situations children resist and challenge traditional power relations between children and adults, by involving adults in playing ‘hide and seek’. This playful resistance is interpreted as democratic participation, and thereby underlines play as an important way for children to express themselves as co-constructers of their communities in kindergartens.