Of routine consideration: ‘civilising’ children’s bodies via food events in Swedish and English early childhood settings

ABSTRACT

Inspired initially by Elias’s (1994) work on ‘civilising processes’, this article draws on a project in which an English and a Swedish researcher examines ethnographic data on mealtimes from two of their respective studies undertaken in early childhood settings. Despite the differing contexts, the data show a marked similarity in the way children’s bodies become subject to ‘civilising’ during mealtimes. The article contends that mealtimes are times of the day when young children’s bodies are subject to a high degree of disciplining when compared to the ‘free’ play elements of the day. Using the concept of ‘over-civilising’, we explore these processes, which are underpinned by a pervasive construction of young children’s bodies as ‘unruly’, in need of ‘civilising’ and bringing under control. Whilst this impacts on how educators are ‘expected’ to manage mealtimes in their settings, the data show how children negotiate, appropriate and resist these ‘body rules’.

KEYWORDS:

• Mealtimes
• early childhood
• ethnography
• civilising the body
• Elias

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.