Ré-enchanter les sols pour les rendre visibles : le regard des enfants en question

Abstract

A research project led us to interview urban schoolchildren on their perception of soils. What is the point of focusing on children’s discourses tinged with naivety ? Beacause of the current urgent need to change our relationship to the soil given the issues relating to it, especially in cities, there is a crucial need to make the soil visible again and to reflect on its management. To do this, we believe the discourses of children can contribute to re-enchanting soils, that such perspectives are just as relevant as scientific approaches in these times of transition, and that this re-enchantment should not be considered as merely childism but as a posture to be nurtured. We have chosen to take the children’s perspective seriously. Our results show that children, in spite of the naivety of their remarks, are fully engaged in addressing current scientific and epistemological questions and could contribute to inventing new ways of relating to the soil, provided children’s re-enchanted views become sources of inspiration for adults.

Keywords

• urban soil
• children
• re-enchantment
• childism