print this page

6. Genus i barndomens historia / Gender and the history of childhood

1. Seija-Leena Nevala-Nurmi
University of Tampere, Department of History

Girls and Boys in the Finnish Defence Family

Voluntary defence organisations were among the most popular activities in Finland from the 1920s to 1944. These Civil Guards had played an important role in the Finnish Civil War 1918 and after the war it became a significant organisation of citizens and also an important element in Finnish society. Voluntary national defence was strongly based on a nationalistic family-idea and family-based recruitment. Inside the Civil Guards there was an organisation for each member of the family. Men had their own organisation, women's organisation was called the Lotta Svärd and also boys and girls (age between 8 to16) had their own organisations by the beginning of the 1930's. It was thought that the Civil Guards formed one big home and extended family that metaphorically represented the whole Finnish society. Concretely this ideology also became materialized because very often all members of the same nuclear family joined these organisations as did the whole kin also.

The youth organisations had an important meaning in the lives of tens of thousands Finnish children and youngsters in the 1930's and 1940's. Militarism and nationalism they represented were "fashionable", in addition to parents, also kin, the teachers and the whole society supported their activities. The Civil Guard boys and the girls, called 'Little Lottas' were also important part of the Finnish 'Defence Family'. But what was their role inside this construction? Were they just miniature copies of the adult organisations or did they represent something new and different? When the youth organisations inside the Civil Guard organisation were formed, there were two different generations involved in the voluntary defence movement. In addition to this, the childhood inside the defence family was strongly gendered. It has been argued that the family metaphor naturalizes power relations and gender hierarchies, the subordination of women to men and children to adults in the nation. This is the notions of gender and generation in the Finnish Defence movement, from the children's and youngster's point of view.

2. Eilola Jari
University of Jyväskylä/Department of History and Ethnology

"… We flew higher and higher until stars looked as big as the Moon…" Early Modern Children's Stories of Witches' Sabbath

In my presentation I will analyse children's testimonies concerning witches during the so called great Swedish witch-hunts in 1660s and 1670s. During that ten years period thousands of children accused witches, that they had captured them to the mythical place they called Blåkulla.

An explanation of the children's behavior arises from two different bases. First, there was a question of a relationship between the children and the adults, and changes in the ways that the officials and priests understood children. Secondly, the children's behavior was connected to the phases of their psychological development, and it also reflected on the relationships between the children. The latter part, concerning the children's life and their point of view, has invoked surprisingly little attention from researchers, who have seen them only as reflectors of the attitudes or views of their parents or other adults. It was not necessarily quite so simple. Anyhow, both these counts were closely related to the changes in the whole society, and therefore they need closer and wider commentary.

In the medieval world children were usually thought of as innocent, yet the Lutheran church saw them differently. All men were prone to temptations and were burdened by original sin. This applied also to children. Anyway, there was the possibility of leading them to redemption by teaching them the basics of Christianity, the Table of Duties, and other such things. This idea also included a more sinister side: if it was possible to lead children to good, it was possible to tempt them to evil. As a result, the need for education was noticed. The state or the Church could not arrange a system of schooling for everyone, except the sermons, church services, etc. That is why they transferred the responsibility to the parents, which is where the troubles arose.

Children were taken under both formal and informal control, and departures from the social role mentioned above were not tolerated. Most of the children who accused witches were 5-15 years old. The eldest of them had just come of age; they felt growing interest in the opposite sex, yet sexual intercourse was allowed only within the bounds of marriage. It was even said that already a thought about it was as serious a sin as a factual offense. As a result, there were feelings of guilt and dirtiness, and fear of God's punishment. Repressed sexual feelings were unconsciously channeled into dreams, where children were married to each other or the demons. Children also gave birth in Blåkulla and the newborns looked like animals. This symbolized not only the supernatural nature of Blåkulla or their partner, but also the prohibited nature of sexual intercourse.

On the other hand, younger children (from an age of three or four) created an invisible friend, who was perfect and all-powerful. They constructed him or her partly out of the elements of the different traditions, partly out of the object relations between a child and the parents. An invisible friend was a blend of imagination and reality, which could change to become a collective fantasy. Thus, it was shared with the other children and the images were perfected together. This "imaginary game" gave also an outlet to the fears that wars, rumors of witches, or sermons of the Last Judgment and damnation caused.

This game, which was at least partly a reality for the children, had certain "rules", and therefore all "proposals" did not suit the general views. These children were guided on to the right track by the other children, and this could also happen before the Court. This proves that there were some "leaders of the game". They were the children who the witches had taken to Båkulla from the beginning and who were therefore more experienced than the others. Some of the "leaders" also possessed the skill to see who the witches were and who they took to Blåkulla. The opinions of these last mentioned children were respected both in the eyes of parents and the administrators. On the other hand, these "leaders" were also punished more severely than the others, when the officials finally understood that the children had told lies and caused the deaths of tens or even hundreds of persons all over Sweden. They were stigmatized as dishonorable, and the uncivilized words were traced to them. The priests and officials also regarded the parents of these children as incompetent educators.

3. Anette Eklund Hansen
Arbejdermuseet/ Arbejderbevægelsens Bibliotek og Arkiv

Børnearbejde i det danske landbrugssamfund 1900- 1940 i et kønsperspektiv

Før 2.verdenskrig var landbruget det erhverv, der beskæftigede flest lønnede børnearbejdere i Danmark. Omkring 1900 blev drenge og piger fra 7-8 års alderen sendt ud at tjene på gårdene, fordi deres landarbejderforældre ikke kunne forsørge dem. Omfanget af børnearbejdet faldt i 1930érne bl.a. fordi skolelovgivningen forøgede undervisningstiden, landarbejderfamilierne fik færre børn og bedre levevilkår og behovet for arbejdskraft i landbruget ændrede sig.
Med udgangspunkt i denne historiske ramme vil jeg i mit oplæg analysere det lønnede børnearbejdes omfang og karakter set i et kønsperspektiv. Hvilken betydning havde kønsarbejdsdelingen for børnearbejdet og børnene, og hvilke konsekvenser havde det for pigers og drenges socialisering i landarbejderfamilierne. Da erindringsmateriale er den primære kildegruppe vil undersøgelsen også diskutere, hvilken betydning arbejdet fik for børnenes (drenge og piger) rolle i familien, for børnenes selvopfattelse og deres ønsker for fremtiden. Undersøgelsen indgår i en antologi om børnearbejde og arbejderbørn i tid og rum, der udkommer i forbindelse med Arbejdermuseet i Københavns udstilling i efteråret 2005 med samme tema.

4. Birgitta Tunturi
University of Tampere

Tracing childhood - towards the history of an invisible child

I examined the history of Finnish pedagogy in my master's thesis "Reason and children's education - J. V. Snellman's conception of childhood in his lecture on pedagogy 1861" (2004). My starting point was early childhood education and I researched the subject matter according to the Hegelian philosophy of the Finnish national philosopher Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806-1881). The context of his ideas was in psychology, logic, law and political science. Snellman rejected the German Froebelian kindergarten idea and its visual instruction methods as introduced to Finland by Uno Cygnaeus. Snellman divided his own pedagogical thinking in tree parts: physical, ethical and theoretical education. As a Hegelian he considered human existence as thought: this meant more to him than the traditional division between body and soul. In child-rearing they represent only one part for the development of the Spirit, which expresses itself in history as a Tradition. It also means Ethical Right in human thinking, will and action. The main goal in education was Reason and Freedom, as Snellman himself said. Early childhood education for him means upbringing at home, where the parental love and the child's reciprocated love created the dynamic basis for Right in national and public life.

According to the German Axel Honneth and his interpretation of Hegel's recognition theory (Anerkennung) a child's development is dialectical. The practical action in the family, society and public life leads a child to common human virtues: truth, goodness, right and love of mankind. Snellman stated that a child has a right to care, upbringing and education. As a statesman he also gave childhood its own place in society - in the family, not, for example, between nature and culture. So - when Snellman recognized childhood, did our modern society, "child's century", throw it away in nurseries or kindergartens - "waiting rooms" for adulthood? A child's own active role in society has been underestimated and it has also remained invisible in the history of childhood, which has mostly been written by men.

Now I have started on a doctoral thesis - "Tracing Reason - recognition of childhood and its political space in Finnish Society 1809-1863". I will ask, has enlightened childhood and modern thinking been a "dormant reason" or even a "nightmare", as L. DeMause has stated? In the Finnish scholarly literary documents, the public discussion in press, in laws and statutes and children's literature - written by men, of course - I try to trace ideas, how they discoursed on childhood and made political space for the new public childhood? What is the historical basis for our conception of childhood or what did we do to children in public institutions during the first part of the 19th century? What was the contemporary meaning of terms "reason" and "freedom" or of the measures to relieve poverty, which seem to us rather a punishment than a relief… Who was really free and why? And where were the children, boys and girls? You can without doubt find them in paintings or fairy tales, but in formal papers they followed invisible e.g. their ill-famed mothers. Only as recently has the term "child law" been in general use - I will try to approach it trough the history of ideas, and political and legal history.

And what the research of Snellman's ideas can offer to the history of childhood? I would at first assert that at the human level his main idea was to empower lifelong self-education, which includes high ethical responsibility, not only pure rational development. In historical research it can also open us new ways to approach childhood in a wider historical context, instead of developmental or psychological myths or micro-cultural constructions of childhood.

6. Liisa Granbom-Herranen
Helsingfors universitet/ pedagogik

Ordspråk i den pedagogiska diskussionen

Pedagogiska diskussionen har alltid hört till hemmets normala vardagsliv. Kort uppfattat det pedagogiska språket angår mellan vuxna och barn, inte med jämlika personer. För att kunna förstå de (möjliga) gömda innebördar som påverkar i pedagogiska situationer har jag tittat på pedagogiska diskussion och ordspråk man använder i det.

Ordspråk hör till pedagogiskt språk. Ordspråk omfattas ha en viktig roll i undervisning och lärande speciellt i kulturer vilka grundar sig på oskriven information och gemensamt minne. Så har det också varit i Finland på 1800-talet, tiden före den allmänna skolplikten - speciellt om man tittar på majoriteten av befolkning (finskspråkiga obesuttna och jordlösa på landsortet). Ordspråken har vanligtvis behandlats utan kontekst. Utan kontekst är det svårt eller omöjligt att veta vad det som sagt har betytt - antingen talarens intention eller åhörarens förståelse.

För att hitta ordspråk i sitt användningskontekst har jag gått genom memoarer med barndomsminnen. Forskningsmaterialet är frå Finska Literatur Sällskapets folkloristika arkivet, två insamlingar. Allt som allt har jag genomgått över en tusen människors memoarer av vilka 252 innehöll ordspråk. Av detta har jag framtagit dom som berättade om pedagogiskt språk, och fick 143 memoarer. Alla minnena är åhörarens minnen.

Med de här memoarer kan man få uppfattningen om åhörares åsikt och förståelse om det pedagogiska språket hon/han har hört i sitt barndom. Åhörarens (barnets) uppfattning om vad blev sagt och vad var det som menades med ordspråk skilde sig från det som vi har blivit vana vid att uppfatta som ordspråkets bud. Ordspråket kan tolkas på olika sätt angående både den allmänna socialkulturella konteksten och individuella konteksten. Det ser ut att barn som åhörare ger sällan metaforiska tolkningar. En annan sammanfattning som kan göras har med traditionens uppehållarna att göra. Hittills har vi blivit vana vid tanken att ordspråket hör till den manskliga språket, det är en del av det patriarkaliska språket. De här barndomsmemoare ger en annan uppfattning, ordspråket hör till den kvinnliga världen.

Man kan närma barndomshistoria från olika synpunkter. I denna undersökningen har jag användt memoarer, nerskrivet berättande. När man i varje fall kommer till det att i ordspråkets bud är det frågan om tolkning, ser jag att det gäller om åhörarens tolkning och uppfattning. Det är ju via åhöraren som tolkningen och den upfattade innebörden vidareförs. Både flickor och pojkar har i sitt barndom hört ordspråk i pedagogiskt språk. Men det är inte alla som kommer att använda dem i sitt liv. Från barndomet kommer man ihåg vem, när och varför fick man höra ordspråk - och det är inte bara ordena man kommer ihåg. Tillsammans med ordspråket kommer emotioner, minnena stannar inte enbart i det som andra tycker vara väsentligt för situationen. Memoarer ger information om allt detta. Från detta informationen kan vidareföras frågor om ordspråkets dolda innebördar och anknytningar.