Lasten yhteenkuuluvuuden rakentuminen päiväkotiarjen pienissä kertomuksissa

Authors

• Jaana Juutinen University of Oulu, Finland

Keywords:

Narrative, kerronnallisuus, small stories, pienet kertomukset, day-care center, päiväkoti, the politics of belonging, yhteenkuuluvuuden politiikka

Abstract

This study explores the construction of children’s belonging through the small stories of daily life in two day-care centres. The theoretical premise of the study is the politics of belonging, referring to those mechanisms and processes by which belonging is constructed and produced. The methodology of the study is based on a narrative approach. The small stories were constructed by the research-ers basing on the observations and the recorded data of interactions between the children, the practitioners and the researchers during daily life in two day-care groups. The study shows that children’s belonging was constructed in verbal, func-tional and material ways and was produced in relation to friends, the day care group, practitioners, family members and the ambient society. In addition to social relations, the meaning of the material environment and the pedagogical practices used in the day-care centres seemed to be significant mechanisms that constructed belonging.