BIN-Norden is a Nordic research network based on humanistic, social science, cultural-historical and aesthetical studies. It is a continuation of Nordic networks and research collaboration since the 1970s. Originally, focus was on literature and new media for children, children’s folklore and their oral expressions; now all humanistic studies based on a cultural-historic, cultural-theoretical and aesthetical approach are included.
Fields of interest:
- Cultural products for children – and the cultural history of childhood.
- Children’s production of culture, cultural expression and daily life – from traditional and children’s folklore and other oral and physical expression and play culture, to children’s role as social and cultural actors, children’s use of electronic media, and of their social, physical and institutional terms of life.
- Cultural activities initiated by adults and projects with children.
Through BIN-Norden we aim to create network relations in order to exchange and develop the competence in this field. BIN-Norden is led by a workgroup that arrange research seminars, publish reports and other information. The participants in the network come from significant research centers and institutions in the field in the Nordic countries.
For further information on the network, arrangements, reports and associated researchers, please see our homepage (in Norwegian).
For an overview of conferences, seminars, exhibitions in the child culture field, see our calendar.
For other questions, please contact the network at: [email protected]
or directly to the leader of the workgroup: [email protected]
The project: Child Culture in the 21st century
In 2005, BIN-Norden launched a major Nordic knowledge-gathering project. It was a collaboration between the Nordic Council of Ministers’ steering group for child and youth culture (BUK) and the Nordic Child Culture Research Network (BIN). The aim was to examine child culture in the Nordic countries through Scandinavian research.
From the 1960s until today, Scandinavian child culture has gone through a number of radical changes. BIN-Norden wanted to explore these changes and their importance for our conceptions of children, childhood and child culture:
– Can these changes, seen from the research approaches of history, sociology, philosophy, psychology, education, folklore, media science and culture theory, be identified and described?
– Can they, seen through these same research approaches, be defined and understood?
– Can these changes be seen as a linear development? As a departure from earlier conditions and conceptions? Or?
– Do they have consequences for the conceptions of children, childhood and child culture that have influenced the 20th Century?
– Do they have research consequences – theoretical and methodological?
– Do they have consequences for communication?
Through three conferences, held in Copenhagen (Denmark) in 2005, Lysebu (Norway) in 2006 and Reykjavik (Iceland) in 2007, such questions were addressed and discussed. Peer-reviewed papers from these conferences can be found on the BIN-Norden webpage (some publications in English).
Follow the links below to the conference pages with attached publications (scroll down on the pages):
2005 conference: http://bin-norden.org/bin-online-publikasjoner/1-konferanse/
2006 conference: http://bin-norden.org/bin-online-publikasjoner/2-konferanse/
2007 conference: http://bin-norden.org/bin-online-publikasjoner/3-konferanse/
Workshop abstracts from the 2007 conference: http://bin-norden.org/bin-online-publikasjoner/3-konferanse/workshops-og-papers/