The Childhood Picture In The Transition

In the modern rational dichotomous thinking, the modem conception of childhood converts to self-evident scientific conception of childhood by the reproduction of modem school. However, the traditional conception of childhood of villagers reduces to an irrational and rejected conception of childhood, and the multiple-oriented aspects of it also disappears. The traditional conception of childhood and the modern conception of childhood are actually two different types of concept with their own logical autonomy rather than in the ends of the linear development of "irrational-rational", "backward-progress", and "been transformed-transformation". The attention and investigation on the traditional conception of childhood is inspired by the subaltern study, which shifts the perspective from elites to the subaltern. The subaltern study concerns about the voiceless being overwhelmed by the tide of history silently, aimed to find the the underlying strength in the grand narrative, to believe the unique cultural system and logic system of the subaltern, and to construct the history from the daily lives of grossroots. Based on the standpoint of the villagers, this study reveals the change of conception of childhood from the 1930s to the 1990S, to depict the picture of it in the process of the nation-state modernization. Then, the encounter of the modem childhood conception in the bottom rural society and the interaction mechanism between it and the conception of childhood of villagers are explored. The silenced bottom childhood conception is presented to expand the meaning and vision of childhood and explore the new vitality of childhood.Qualitative interviews and participant observation are adopted to present the dynamic picture of the change of conception of the villagers. Taking Village S in Shandong as the main case study and Village H in Hubei as the expansion case study,98 people were interviewed by separate interview and multiplayer interview, which result in a transcript of 400 thousand words. In addition,two participant observations of "sending Mitang" in Village S were conducted,and the literature such as the relevant local history, genealogy, photographs, the gift lists of "sending Mitang" or"sending Zhumi",personal QQ space were collected. The transcript is coded and analysised with Nvivo8 by grounded theory, which forms the basic framework and conclusions of this study.There are full of tension and also complex association between the changes of childhood conception of villagers and changes of social structure. The conception of childhood of villagers bom in 1930s-1940s reflects familism-oriented. The villagers have family-based conception of childhood in the traditional family-oriented culture.It is the family that the fundament of villagers thinking of the childhood. The conception of childhood of the villagers born in 1950s-1970s and growing up in collectivization era reflects both familism-oriented and collectivism-oriented. The conception of childhood of the younger generation bom in 1980s-1990s and growing up in the era of reform and opening-up refects the individualism-oriented. It is the individual that the fundament of the younger generation thinking of the childhood.The change of the conception of childhood of the villagers is multi-directional rather than a linear process. During this changing picture, the boundary of childhood is continuously constructing and has a flexible characteristic. The boundary of childhood become more and more accurate and rational from the point of view of social expectation boundary, while from the point of view of individual experiential boundary, the villagers have been keeping the sense of immature, namely the continuing experience of childhood. The distinction mechanism which causes the change of childhood boundary turns from the favor net under the familism culture to double institutionalization of time and space in the modern school education. The changing process of conception of childhood of villagers is the process that the modern childhood conception which beyond local knowledge embedded in the rural society. The changing process is reflected as interactive reproduction, which embodied by "embed and reconstruction" and "opposite and complementary".Primary focus is placed on the covered traditional conception of childhood of villagers, to breakthrough the modern framework of conception of childhood, and to reveal the hidden multi-aspects of the traditional conception of childhood. The traditional conception of childhood has unique connotation not been paid attention before, which embodied as follows: the continuing experience of childhood for villagers dispels rational division between children and adults, which shows a growing power. The blurry boundary between children and adult challenges the evolution orientation of the modern conception of childhood. Meanwhile, the recognition of children responsibility from the traditional conception of childhood shows the positive initiative of children to him, to the family and to the society. The search for the underlying micro-sound and the expansion of expression space for the underlying conception of childhood is just beginning. In the overspreading process of modern conception of childhood,stop and stay may be needed,to penetrate the boisterous superficial theory and modem narrative, and look down. The traditional conception of childhood of villagers contains endless vitality, which need us to keep a necessary tension between preservation and change, abandoning and keeping.