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Gender construction through children’s play. An ethnographic research in public and private playgrounds in the city of Drama (Master thesis)

Μαυρίδου, Μυρσίνη/ Mavridou, Myrsini

Τhis paper studies the way in which gender is constructed in childhood through play. Childhood has been approached as social and cultural construction and not as something universal. Both children’s play and the construction of gender are not culturally neutral concepts. Therefore, the comprehension of the cultural conditions that contribute to the gender construction with the aid of ethnography was necessary. In addition, there is a discussion about public and private playgrounds and gendered play, which is approached through gendered theories and perceptions. The field research took place in four playgrounds. More specific, it took place in two public playgrounds and two private ones in the city of Drama, from 15 of February to 14 of April 2017. Also, additional empirical data was gathered with the aid of semi-structured interviews with parents, private playgrounds’ caretakers and public playgrounds’ municipal councilor. Finally, the conclusion of ethnographic research combines the theoretical approaches with the data from field observations and interviews