Culture bambine. La prospettiva antropologica

This chapter outlines the contribution of cultural anthropology to early childhood education, focusing on the need to “know and recognize” childhood through concepts, methods and ethnographic sensitivity. It first discusses childhood as a culturally shaped condition, emphasizing how ideas of children, growth and rights vary across historical and social contexts. It then highlights the value of ethnography for observing implicit codes, routines and interactions in educational settings. Finally, it examines the possibility of an autonomous “children’s culture”, expressed especially through play, peer relations, gestures, stories and informal rules. Anthropology thus helps reveal the hidden dimensions of everyday educational life and children’s active agency.