Children are part of our culture in many different ways. My research has mainly explored how children are embedded in consumer culture, as well as how children's own creative practices and expressions can find a place within our shared cultural heritage.
Today, children are consumers and are addressed as such by companies and marketing actors. Advertising is directed at children, and many products are designed specifically with children in mind. Images of children are also used in advertising to encourage adults to consume. I am interested in how this occurs, how children are made visible, and what these visual practices reveal about broader societal views of children. Advertising legislation, marketing aimed at children, and products manufactured for younger audiences are all examples of my research interests.
Profit-driven child care during the 20th century
Within the historical research project Escape from Shame or Holiday from the Family? The Market for Private Infant Homes and Children's Boarding Houses, 1915-1975 (VR 2017-01769) focus has been on profit-driven childcare during the 20th Century. Private children's boarding houses (barnpensionat) and services that enabled unmarried women to give birth in secret during the twentieth century are examined.
Read more about the project via the link under "research" further down the page.
Children's own visual culture as heritage
Images and visuality are central themes in my research. The project Children's Cultural Heritage: The Archive's Visual Voices (VR 2020-03095), conducted within the DIGARV research programme, has provided an opportunity to further develop this interest. The project, carried out in collaboration with the Swedish Archive of Children's Art, highlights and develops methods and theories for preserving children's own culture as part of our wider cultural heritage.
The project explores questions concerning children's drawings, archival cataloguing practices, and digital preservation, as well as children's right to culture. My particular focus is on how images produced by children are interpreted by other children and how children's drawings are used in research.
Read more about the project via the link under "research" further down the page.
In addition to conducting research, I teach primarily within the Child Studies international Master's programme at Tema Barn and on the single-subject courses Children's Cultural Heritage at Museums and Children, Culture and Leisure.
I also hold an appointment with Forum for Gender Studies and Equality at Linköping University.
