This thesis explores the experiences of six young children (four and five years of age) during the flow of unstructured family museum visits. Two of the children visited a museum of art and archaeology, two a museum of natural history and two a museum that is dedicated to children’s literature. Drawing on the field of childhood studies and in order to provide a means to listen closely to the young children’s experiences, a novel methodology called First Person Museum Ethnography (FPME) was developed and successfully trialled. FPME is underpinned by a novel configuration of theory that allows me to conceptualise first person video (FPV) and photographs as the children’s expressions (beyond verbal articulations) of their experiences. I argue that this allows me to apply an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach to exploring the children’s lived experiences during the visit and afterwards in interview. Data collection included the use of chest-mounted GoPro™ cameras worn by the children. These recorded FPV footage during their visits. To complement the FPV footage, handheld cameras were also carried by the children during their time in the museums. The children’s photographs formed the basis of photo-elicitation interviews that took place immediately after their visits. I suggest that together these two complementary tools, playing to the children’s competencies, provide the children with a richer and more nuanced means to communicate their experiences than either would alone. This research adds to the young children in museums’ literature in two main ways. First, by empathetically engaging with the communications of six young children, it presents fresh perspectives on the ways in which movement, family interactions, affective reactions and patterns of attention contribute to the nature of the children’s lived experiences. Second, it presents the novel methodology FPME and a critique of its implementation with young children.
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/c4p7-qt97
Burbank, Benjamin Henry John
Supervisors: McGregor, Deb ; Wild, Mary
Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesSchool of Education
Year: 2021
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