Caring for the children and caring for the city: A historical intervention spanning two cities (UK and Canada)

For symposium "Caring for children in social work history" submission #438 From its early development social work was concerned with saving children given the negative consequences of urban industrial life. In this... [ view full abstract ]

For symposium "Caring for children in social work history" submission #438

From its early development social work was concerned with saving children given the negative consequences of urban industrial life. In this presentation we question representations of children in public spaces through historical reconstruction and intervention. Historical reconstruction assumes that archival materials are selective traces of the past, created, preserved under particular circumstances. We deconstruct these materials, reactivating archives to elicit an active understanding of history, to link with present-day concerns. Our interdisciplinary team of social work, visual studies and photography scholars examined documentary photographs taken by professionals and amateurs in streets and other public places in Brighton (England) and Toronto (Canada) in the early 20th century, complemented by textual documents (surveys, health reports, media coverage), and existing oral history interviews with former residents.

Our materials show that children spent a lot of their time on the streets, in lanes and back alleys, with limited presence of adults. Children appear engaged as participants and as witnesses of an urban world undergoing rapid transformation. They had agency: they played, took care of younger children, engaged in monetary activities (newspaper boys, singers), and were keen observers of urban destruction and construction in their environment (construction sites, street cars development, surveying activities). We find amazing parallels along with divergences between the cities in the children’s activities, the constraints they encountered, and their use of such spaces for their own interests.

We also present the plans for a multi-site exhibit-as-intervention using photographs, artifacts, video and interactive techniques which will reactivate the question of how caring for public spaces and caring for children can become part of a single social work endeavor to modify social relations in the present and in the future.