“There Is No Room for You!” The Politics of Belonging in Children’s Play Situations

Abstract

This study is part of a research project exploring values education in Nordic preschools. The study approaches the value of belonging from a relational perspective with the aim of deepening our understanding of how the politics of belonging emerges in children’s play situations in Finnish preschools. The politics of belonging refers to the processes by which belonging and exclusion are constructed in children’s daily lives. The study applies three axes of belonging (categorization, resistance and desire, and performativity) as analytical tools to interpret the small stories of daily life by asking: What kinds of tensions can be identified when children are included in and excluded from play situations? The research material comprises video recordings and observations from four preschools. The findings provide insights into the politics of belonging as constant movements between children positioned as insiders and outsiders. The processes of belonging and exclusion abound with tensions between stability and variability, including and excluding, and individuality and collectivity. The study reveals that materiality is not a neutral, power-free element of a particular setting, but, rather, an aspect of the politics of belonging.