The Cultural Infrastructures of Childhood

Hester Barron’s book The Social World of the School: Education and Community in Interwar London and Ben Highmore’s Playgrounds – the Experimental Years both highlight the importance of understanding the social worlds of childhood as material practices (from violin lessons to den building) embedded within networks of community and governance.

Report

With an audience of 25 people, Hester Barron and Ben Highmore discussed the interlinking themes that animated their historical studies of interwar elementary schools in London (Barron) and experimental postwar playgrounds in Europe and North America (Highmore). Both discussed their sources and the way that they had to develop inventive forms of listening and looking to catch glimpses of children’s lives within archives that are prepared by adults from materials composed (predominantly) by adults. They also discussed the reasons why a historical perspective can offer a different perspective on the present.

Hester Barron is Professor of Modern History at the University of Sussex, and Ben Highmore is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex.