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Om barn som kulturellt relä och framtidsbesvärjelse

Abstract

To be called childish is ambiguously; it may mean either immature or spontaneous. Not even children are expected to be childish all the time. Instead they are used by adults as good or bad examples in the construction of norms for desirable behaviour. They are also used as an invocation of the future, as a sort of messenger from our time. What is the message they are supposed to deliver?

Many people are occupied by the question about the meaning of their present age and what it demands from them. Is it charming or awkward to be playful and giggly when you are fifty years old? You could see the concept of childishness as a cultural relay for conflicting ideas about how one should behave and what it means to be a grown-up. In this power-transmitting concept strong ideas about responsibility and naivety are connected in crucial situations where the maturity of the participants is an uncertain circumstance.