Children’s aesthetic agency: The pleasures and power of imagination

Abstract

This chapter perceives the aesthetic sensibilities and creativity of young children through the lens of aesthetic theory and childhood studies. Understanding the aesthetic as encompassing sensitivity, emotion, imagination, and thought, I discuss how children make sense of their world, become familiar with social norms and expressive media, and create their self (including self–other relationships) through imaginative play. Aesthetic agency combines receptive and productive activity, or awareness in action—particularly evident in childhood, but not its privilege. Remembering that many pleasures of childhood relate to make-believe, I include ‘deceit’ and ‘lying’—how playful practices enlarge, change, test, and form alternatives to children’s self-conceptions and life-worlds. A moral and political perspective on make-believe (including a defence of lying) acknowledges that children’s social position is ultimately one of subordinates. Examples from research, novels about or for children (especially the work of Astrid Lindgren), and first-hand experiences emphasize the need for contextual and situated understanding.