[Following the theoretical perspective that Children and Childhood are socially constructed ideas ( James & James 2012; Alanen 2005; James, Jenks & Prout 1998; Corsaro 1997;Qvortrup 1994), the need for an exploration of the overlaps between the construction of ‘nationalism’ and ‘childhood’ becomes evident (Stephens 1997). Since education is part of the project of nation building, and intended to ‘work upon’ persons to make them into citizens with specific identities – how children and childhood are understood is in turn a significant part of national self-images.
In this artwork Leonie Salzmann (2015) tries to capture the idea that ‘children’ are viewed through national lenses. This is communicated through the two translucent layers intended to represent national boundaries (in green and yellow) covering the person. Other elements include adults at war, stairs going upwards (education as progress), and footprints of the artists in opposition to the stairs among other details, all of which are open to interpretation by the viewer.
Scientific communication is conventionally limited to the written word. Images do not enjoy the same power as words in academic culture. Nevertheless, as far as good conceptualization belongs to the heart of any scientific activity words cannot do alone, what they can with images. With the graphic work of Sousanis (2015) being accepted as a doctoral dissertation in the field of education by Columbia University, it appears as though The Image is getting a bit more space in the conceptual negotiation with The Word in a scientific room. This blog post is not just a discussion of childhood and nationalism in the context of education, but also a celebration of The Image as part of the Humanities and Social Sciences.]