LIST OF FIGURES

FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NOTE ON AUTHORS

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS

SERIES EDITOR INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

Introduction

Personal Connections

Theoretical Underpinnings

Marcel Mauss and the emergence of the body in anthropological theory.

The work of Mary Douglas.

Michel Foucault and the body.

The three bodies.

Methodology Behind the Scenes

The Field

Field site structure and daily routines.

Fieldwork methods.

The Development of Early Childhood Services in New Zealand and Japan

New Zealand.

Japan.

Bodily Practices.

Outline of the Book

Chapter References

Chapter Endnotes

CHAPTER 2: Children’s Bodies as Contested Sites

Introduction

The Un(clothed) Body

The naked child in Japanese educational settings.

The Japanese Child’s Body as a Symbol of Nostalgia

Skinship as cultural ideology.

The collective unclothed body.

The Protected Body in New Zealand Early Childhood Education

Bodies under surveillance.

Normalising the clothed body.

Keeping the Japanese Child’s Body Safe

Framing the Child’s Body

Notions of privacy.

The Body as a Site of Excretion

The body as teacher in Japanese early childhood education.

Reflecting on Children’s Bodies as Culturally Contested

Chapter References

Chapter Endnotes

CHAPTER 3: Embodying the Curriculum

Introduction

Engaging the Body in Sensory Play

Wrapping and unwrapping the body.

Messy play.

The Body as a Counterpoint to Modern Lifestyles

Body Techniques

The cultural meanings of touch.

The body as a medium of communication.

The Physical Self

Embodying gambaru in the Japanese context.

Reflections on Embodying the Curriculum

Chapter References

Chapter Endnotes

CHAPTER 4: Risk and the Body

Introduction

Towards a Discourse of Risk

The Position of Children in the Risk Society

Perilous Play: The Kindergarten Playground as Culturally Contested Space

A Pedagogy of Risk

Creating Real and Imagined Boundaries to Minimise Risk

Cultural Definitions of Safe Supervision

The low profile of Japanese teachers.

The use of real tools.

Tools as iconic symbols.

Assessing the risks and rewards of real tools.

Defining objects in play as safe or risky.

Perceptions of Risk and the Body

Chapter References

Chapter Endnotes

CHAPTER 5: The Body as a Site of Discipline

Introduction

Deconstructing Noise

Noise as counterproductive.

Noise as organic.

Conflict and Confrontation

Rights discourses in New Zealand.

The lessons of conflict.

Learning communicative competency.

Developing empathy.

The Use of Time and Space

Time and space as disciplinary techniques in the Japanese kindergarten.

Children’s Bodies as Objects of the Medical Gaze

Reflecting on the Body as a Site of Discipline

Chapter References

Chapter Endnotes

CHAPTER 6: The Body as Natural Symbol

Introduction

Dirt and the Body

The Physical Body as a Microcosm of Society

The Symbolism of Protective Barriers

Bodily Fluids as Metaphors of Disorder

Purification of the Body

Polluted spaces.

Food In and Out of Place

Rituals around food.

The lunchbox as a reflection of cultural ideology.

Reflecting on Constructions of Dirt, Pollution and Purity

Chapter References

Chapter Endnotes

CHAPTER 7: Bodies in Context

Introduction

Bodies from the Beginning

Constructing the body.

The body and its products.

Internalising techniques of the body.

Order and the body.

Approaches to Dirt and Pollution

Coming Full Circle

Chapter References

INDEX