Politics in play: the playground movement as a socio-political issue in early twentieth-century Finland

• Essi Jouhki ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Jyväskylä

     University of Jyväskylä

     Jyväskylä, Finlandia

     
• Localización: Paedagogica Historica: International journal of the history of education, ISSN 0030-9230, Vol. 60, Nº. 4, 2024 (Ejemplar dedicado a: New cultural histories of disability and education), págs. 668-688
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • This article studies the history of playgrounds in Finland andfocuses on the emergence and implementation of the objectivesof the international playground movement in the early twentiethcentury. Specifically, it examines the relations between supervisedplaygrounds, women’s emancipation, child welfare policies, andpolitical discussion on social class. In doing so, the article illustratesthe transnational circulation and implementation of early twentiethcentury “child-saving” ideas, such as the playground reform. Theanalysis is done by cross and close reading a wealth of contempor-ary texts on playgrounds, such as magazines, newspapers, andarchival materials. By tracing the interwoven aspects of the play-ground movement and the history of Finland, especially the sig-nificance of the Civil War of 1918, this article argues that supervisedplaygrounds were utilised in reconciling the socio-political issues ofthe newly independent state.