Exploring Military Artefacts in Early Childhood Education: Conflicting Perspectives on Cultural Sustainability, Belonging and Protection

Åsta Birkeland,Liv Torunn Grindheim

doi:10.3390/su13052587

Åsta Birkeland, Liv Torunn Grindheim

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052587

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Feb 28, 2021
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Abstract

Social and cultural sustainability is outlined as creating surroundings that include and stimulate positive interactions, such as promoting a sense of community and a feeling of belonging to a community, by being safe and attached to the local area. Artefacts chosen in early childhood education (ECE) institutions are integrated parts of the culture in which the ECE institutions are embedded; artefacts, thus, are understood as serving belonging and cultural sustainability. The study examined what insight into cultural sustainability could be surfaced in conflicting perspectives about military artefacts in ECE. Focus group interviews were conducted with Chinese and Norwegian graduate students and ECE researchers, during which photographs of a Chinese kindergarten where military artefacts and toys were highly represented. Conflicting perspectives on military artefacts among the participant surfaced how belonging are closely intertwined with protection and where to belong: locally, nationally or internationally. The skeptical approach to military artefacts is challenged by awareness of different ways to promote national pride and entanglement among generations. The findings indicate a need for more research on conditions for belonging and the normative complexities of artefacts in cultural sustainability.

Highlights

Education, including early childhood education (ECE), is put forward as important when aiming at more sustainable living [1,2,3,4]
Due to our understanding of cultural sustainability and cultural formation, we suggest that the arguments supporting military artefacts emphasize the aim of education as learning about weapons and how to treat weapons because they are dangerous
The analysis materialized that available artefacts in Chinese ECE represent historically established educational ideals, such as patriotism and educational practices offering military artefacts

Summary

Introduction

Education, including early childhood education (ECE), is put forward as important when aiming at more sustainable living [1,2,3,4]. Social and cultural sustainability points to development that ensures safety, social rights and good living conditions for all [9], as “a life-promoting state within communities and a process within communities that can achieve this condition” [10] Mannion and Adey [11] and Grindheim et al [7] see social and cultural sustainability in the context of ECE as creating surroundings that include and stimulate positive interactions, such as promoting a sense of community and a feeling of belonging to the community in which we live, by being safe and attached to the local area. A contradictory and important aspect of cultural sustainability emerges when facing challenges such as migration [9], pollution [12]

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