This project is international in scope, as evident from the choice of the five cultural establishments studied: The children’s museums, Children's Museum of the Arts in New York, USA, the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, USA: and the theme parks and amusement parks Astrid Lindgrens Värld and Liseberg and the Science Centre Fenomenmagasinet, all in Sweden. What happens when children and their families enter these institutions? Do they use vacation money or savings to pay for the visit? Do children and parents use these institutions in the same way? What in particular make these places places for children? And how do children themselves relate to these places?
The study also investigated how cultural heritage/child culture and entertainment and consumption cultures come together in these cultural establishments. On which notions of the child do these establishments draw?
The project was financed by the Swedish Research Council 2010-2015, VR-HU Dnr 2009-2384.
Results from the project
- Two new theoretical concepts which emphasise the complexity of child culture: child culture multiple and messy and floating (rör(l)iga) child culture.
- The concept “culture parent”
- The productivity of research methods when researching child culture
- The importance of the materiality of child culture and its significance for child culture (money, geography, place and objects).
- Child culture and consumption as a way of “doing” family
- Child culture as everyday life
- The importance of child culture for pleasure, emotions, fantasy, entertainment and learning.
- Ways of financing child culture
