Contributions to childhood culture’s geodesy: playing at 0° end 41° latitude

Abstract

A photographic exhibition about São Tomé and Príncipe children’s play (latitude 0°) and the play of children from Portugal (latitude 41°) is the motto to reflect on the promotion of the Universal Right to play and the full cultural and social participation of children, expressed in Article 31 (number 1 and 2) of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, respectively. Analysing children’s play it was possible to recognize the places from which children see the world and give meaning to their surroundings. That is, the mapping of time, place, and the way in which are intersect the adult and the child’s world and constituted childhood’s cultures. Proclaiming, respecting and promoting children’s universal right to play, this article suggests, only makes sense if all these efforts are based on the idea of locating children’s play.