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How is the world built in relation to friendship? (the corner stone of child socialisation and relationships, besides kin, since adults also have work and romantic relationships)

Are certain spaces designed to promote and help friendships flourish while other deter these interactions and relationships.

What constitutes friendships? For small children: playing? For high schoolers: talking and identity?

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Thompson 2005 observed that safety rules were implemented in primary school playgrounds for the welfare of the children, but to what extent are some of these rules not necessary and, at times, hindering children's play and friendship formation? One example of a rule observed in this study was the separation of younger children from older children who then became upset because they could not play with their younger/older friends. The two sections of children even began to develop an animosity towards one another due to their segregation on the playground. The segregation was elimination because, "the head teacher decided that the criteria of safety was outweighed by the drive for a more harmonious playtime” (Thompson, 2005, 75).

Thompson stated that "resourcefulness, risk competency or freedom of movement" are not encouraged by the boundaries of the playground and strict adult supervision and enforcement of rules. (2005, 76)

A possible solution: Anji Play

Developed by educator Cheng Xueqin in the Anji County, China, the Anji Play "ecology of learning" aims to

"return the right of self determined play to children"

create "an environment defined by love, risk, joy, engagement, and reflection"

This play curriculum is culturally sensitive, "minimally structure, and open-ended."

In terms of a pedagogy of friendship, Anji Play has a hands-off approach where children are allowed more freedom while still having teacher's support.

This video from Anji Play's facebook page documents and further explains the role of the teacher in this style of play. https://www.facebook.com/AnjiPlayWorld/videos/2040359962648436/

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After discussing the "sociocultural aspects of children’s friendship," Carter and Nutbrown argue for their original framework to be "used by teachers, [because it] has the potential to help them nurture and scaffold children through their friendship experiences" (2016, 407).

Their framework places an emphasis on teacher's being sensitive to children's lived-experiences in friendship. They also believe time and space for the creation of friendship should be respected. Rather than providing  concrete guidelines like a curriculum, this paper focuses on the theoretical side of this pedagogy.

Below is a table from Carter and Nutbrown, 2016 (407) describing the three main features on the pedagogy of friendship. Rather than explicitly teaching or learning friendship, it is supported and valued by teachers as an important component of children's education at school

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I am still unsure of the true nature and meaning of phenomenology but I believe it focuses research questions on a specific phenomenon while ethnography concerns itself with understanding people's culture through the perspective of that person as well as reflexivity by the researcher. Smith and Pangsapa (year) criticise phenomenology of being "concerned with the interpretive techniques that understand meanings, often at the expense of generating general explanations" (385).

Carter and Nutbrown defend their use of phenomenology to understand the phenomenon of children's friendships by saying it focuses on " 'lived experiences of the people encountering the phenomena and how they interpret these
experiences’ (Bogdan and Biklen 2003, 48)" (2016, 398).

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1. What roles and impact do adults have on children’s play spaces? What role should they have? Why?

2. What role do adults play in the learning and teaching of friendship?

3. What is the pedagogy of friendship?

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Prescriptive places on the playground involve play instruments such as a hopscotch design permanently drawn on the ground. Thompson 2005 found that children did not like these structures and considers that, “A successfully designed playground is one in which the children are conscious only of their own kinaesthetic joy and the potential field for action. In such a setting, they are barely aware of the environmental design and equipment that make their activities possible. (Yi-Fu Tuan, 1979, p. 99)” (72).

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References and resource list for further exploration

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References and resource list for further exploration

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Carter, C. and Nutbrown, C. (2016). A Pedagogy of Friendship: young children’s friendships and how schools can support them. International Journal of Early Years Education, [online] 24(4), pp.395-413. Available at: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/09669760.2016.1189813?needAccess=true.

Coleman, S. (2014). Making Friendship Impure: Some Reflections on a (Still) Neglected Topic. In: A. Desai and E. Killick, ed., The Ways of Friendship : Anthropological Perspectives. Berghahn Books.

Facebook.com. (2018). AnjiPlay. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/AnjiPlayWorld/

Ingold, T. (2017). Anthropology and/as Education. Taylor and Francis Group.

Lancy, D., Bock, J. and Gaskins, S. (2012). The anthropology of learning in childhood. Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press.

Montgomery, H. (2008). An Introduction to Childhood:Anthropological Perspectives on Children's Lives. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Outhwaite, W. and Turner, S. (2007). The SAGE Handbook of Social Science Methodology. London: Sage Publications, Ltd.

Pfadenhauer, M. and Grenz, T. (2015). Uncovering the Essence. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 44(5), pp.598-616.

Thomson, S. (2005). ‘Territorialising’ the primary school playground: deconstructing the geography of playtime. Children's Geographies, [online] 3(1), pp.63-78. Available at: https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/14733280500037224?needAccess=true.

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During my search to answer questions regarding anthropology and friendship I stumbled upon Carter and Nutbrown’s framework of “a pedagogy of friendship” (2016, 395). This new framework might bridge the geographies of children and the anthropology of learning, yet it should be noted that Carter and Nutbrown employed a qualitative phenomenological method for their study rather than an ethnography.

This lead me to learn about phenomenology and further understand ethnography, comparing and contrasting the two as I seek to answer my questions regarding the geography of friendships.

I revisit research method frameworks once again, this time from a context of “learning” and a focus on phenomenology and ethnography.