The Creation of the American Playground Movement by Reform Women, 1885–1930: A Feminist Analysis of Materialized Ideological Transformations in Gender Identities and Power Dynamics
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10761_2017_409_ReferencePDF.pdf
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3.24 MB
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Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
993496b58ad4f576b22aecd170e0e0d0
Author(s)
Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M.
Blackburn, Renee Marie
Date Issued
June 2017
Journal
International Journal of Historical Archaeology
Publisher
Springer US
Citation
Spencer-Wood, Suzanne M., and Renée M. Blackburn. “The Creation of the American Playground Movement by Reform Women, 1885–1930: A Feminist Analysis of Materialized Ideological Transformations in Gender Identities and Power Dynamics.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 21, no. 4 (June 8, 2017): 937–977.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Feminist research rediscovers the full scope of leadership by reform women and their organizations in initiating the American playground movement by creating playgrounds across the country. The multiple meanings of play and playground landscapes developed from interrelated ideological conceptions of motherhood and childhood that evolved over 200 years. Traditional domestic feminine identity was masculinized to authorize women to create public-sphere playgrounds. Team games merged feminine and masculine values to create new intersectional identities by teaching boys a feminized masculinity and girls a masculinized femininity. Reconnaissance surveys of historic playgrounds in Boston and Detroit found that playgrounds declined after 1950.
Keywords: Playgrounds Childhood Public cooperative mothering Gender ideology
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-017-0409-2
