« Les corps en jeu ». Gouvernement des enfants et normalisation des conduites dans un dispositif périscolaire

Abstract

Based on an ethnographic study in leisure centers offering play activities to children from 3 to 12 years old, the article proposes to analyse the methods of governing the bodies of children during this extracurricular time. It will show, in particular, that the game in this context, can be both a support and a tool for the control of infantile body dynamics. The physical docility of the children is envisaged by the animators as an essential prerequisite to the game, the setting inactivity, and they use frequently ludic technics to obtain it. Finally, beyond the use of the game to discipline the body and maintain the institutional order, normalization processes run through extracurricular activities and tend to impose children dominant forms of use and expression of the body.

Keywords

• extracurricular animation
• game
• Leisure centers
• children
• body
• government