Based on ethnographic work in Norway, this article places children and childhood at the heart of contemporary theories about nationalism and national identification. Modern ideas about the nation can be characterized by an emphasis on outer boundaries, in contrast to politics organized around dynastic or religious centers with varying spheres of influence and diffuse external boundaries. The tendency to focus on boundaries seems to be generally reinforced in the present stage of capitalist modernity. The contention of the article is that as a result of the interplay between inherited values and dramatic social changes, contemporary Norwegians put questions of units and boundaries into the foreground with particular force. Boundaries are important in everyday life, in the popular media and in political discussions - most notably current debates about raising children and the recent debates about the European Union. For example, there is an interesting parallel between the little sign in the baby's buggy saying `do not touch' and the Norwegian `no' to the European Union.
Aarnes, Sigurd A.A.
(1994) `Oppfinnelsen av 17. mai', Nytt Norsk Tidsskrift11(1): 10-23.
2.
Åm, Eli
(1989) På jakt etter barneperspektivet. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
3.
Anderson, Benedict
(1983) Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London and New York: Verso.
4.
Aries, Philip
(1962) Centuries of Childhood. London: Jonathan Cape.
5.
Barker, Martin
(1981) The New Racism. London: Junction Books.
6.
Barker, Fredrik
(ed.) (1969) Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
7.
Bell, Daniel
(1974) Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecast. London: Heinemann.
8.
Berentzen, Sigurd (1984) `Children Constructing their Social World: An Analysis of Gender Contrast in Children's Interaction in a Nursery School', Department of Social Anthropology Occasional Papers, 36, University of Bergen, Norway.
9.
Berentzen, Sigurd
and Brit Bergreen (eds.) (1987) Barns sosiale verden. Oslo: Gyldendal.
10.
Berger, Peter
(1990) The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. New York: Doubleday, Garden City.
11.
Berger, Peter L.
, Brigitte Berger and Hansfried Kellner (1973) The Homeless Mind. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
12.
Birkelund, Tone
and Gunvor Risa (eds) (1989) Barnekultur. Oslo: Cappelen.
13.
Bjerrum Nielsen, Harriet
and Monica Rudberg (1989) Historien om jenter og gutter. Kjønnssosialisering i et utviklings-psykologisk perspektiv. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
14.
Bourdieu, Pierre
(1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
15.
Brox, Ottar
(1991) Jeg er ikke rasist, men.... Oslo: Gyldendal.
16.
Drotner, Kirsten
(1991) At skabe seg selv. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
17.
Enerstvedt, Åse
(1971) Kongen over gata. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
18.
Enerstvedt, Åse
(1987) Roser er røde - Minneboken fra 1700 - tallet til i dag. Oslo: Aventura.
19.
Eriksen, Erik Oddvar
(1993) `Norwegian Social Democracy and Political Governance', in Anne Cohen Kiel (ed.) Continuity and Change: Aspects of Contemporary Norway, pp. 131-148. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
20.
Frykman, Jonas
and Orvar Löfgren (1987) Culture Builders: A Historical Anthropology of Middle Class Life. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
21.
Gellner, Ernest
(1983) Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
22.
Gerhardsen, Rune
(1991) Snillisme på norsk. Oslo: Schibsted.
23.
Giddens, Anthony
(1991) Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Oxford: Polity Press.
24.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1979) Livet i en gammel bydel. Oslo: Aschehoug.
25.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1984) Kitchen-table Society. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
26.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1985) Livsstil og likhet. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
27.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1989) `Small Facts and Large Issues: The Anthropology of Contemporary Scandinavian Society', Annual Review of Anthropology18: 71-93.
28.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1991) `“Barnas egen kultur” - finnes den? Tanker om barns aktive samfunnsdeltakelse', Samtiden4: 41-49.
29.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1992) The Art of Social Relations: Essays on Culture, Social Action and Everyday Life in Modern Norway. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press/Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Most of the essays have also been published earlier.)
30.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1996a) Everyday Life Philosophers: Modernity and Autobiography in Norway. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
31.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1996b) `Text and Life in the Analysis of Childhood Recollections', Introduction to Marianne Gullestad (ed.) Imagined Childhoods: Constructions of Childhood in Autobiographical Accounts. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
32.
Gullestad, Marianne
(1996c) `From Obedience to Negotiation: Dilemmas in the Transmission of Values between the Generations in Norway', The Journal of the Royal Anthropological InstituteMarch: 25-42.
33.
Harvey, David
(1989) The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
34.
Haugen, Inger
(1978) `Om forvaltning av utilgjengelighet', Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning19: 405-414.
35.
Hobsbawm, Eric
and Terence Ranger (eds) (1983) The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
36.
Hockey, Jenny
and Allison James (1993) Growing Up and Growing Old: Ageing and Dependency in the Life Course. London: Sage.
37.
Holtedahl, Lisbet
(1986) Hva mutter gjør er alltid viktig. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
38.
Ivy, Marilyn
(1995) `Have You Seen Me?: Recovering the Inner Child in Late Twentieth-Century America', in Sharon Stephens (ed.) Children and the Politics of Culture: Rights, Risks and Reconstructions, pp. 79-104. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39.
James, Allison
and Alan Prout (1990) `A New Paradigm for the Sociology of Childhood? Provenance, Promise and Problems', in Allison James and Alan Prout (eds) Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood, pp. 7-34. London: Falmer Press.
40.
Kiel, Anne Cohen
(1993) `Confessions of an Angry Commuter: or Learning How to Communicate the Non-Communicating Way', in Anne Cohen Kiel (ed.) Continuity and Change: Aspects of Contemporary Norway, pp. 55-70. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
41.
Kjørholt, Anne Trine (1993) “`Prøv selv” - Kulturprosjekt og visjoner om barndom', Report No. 29, The Norwegian Centre for Child Research, Trondheim.
42.
Kjørholt, Anne Trine (1994) `Fire Nord “Prøv selv” - Kultur-prosjekt for barn i samiske oppvekstmiljøer', Report No. 32, The Norwegian Centre for Child Research, Trondheim.
43.
Korsvold, Tora (1989) `Synliggjøring av barnehagens innhold', Research Report, The Norwegian Centre for Child Research, University of Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway. (MS, files of the author.)
44.
Kramer, Julian
(1983) `Norsk identitet - et produkt av underutvikling og stammetilhørighet', in Arne Martin Klausen (ed.) Den norske vœremåten, pp. 88-97. Oslo: Cappelen.
45.
Lidén, Hilde (1994) “`Så slæpp æå vær hjem alein, sier de voksnan”. Barn på to skolefritidsordninger', in Skolebarn i en forsøkskommune, Report No. 34, The Norwegian Centre for Child Research, Trondheim.
46.
Lidén, Hilde and Anne Øie (1993) `Fritid på skolen? Evaluering av skolefritidsordningen', Report No. 30, The Norwegian Centre for Child Research, Trondheim.
47.
Liestøl, Knut (1946) `Draumkvedet: A Norwegian Visionary Poem', Studia Norvegica 3.
48.
Long, Litt Woon
(1993) `Recent Immigration to Norway', in Anne Cohen Kiel (ed.) Continuity and Change: Aspects of Contemporary Norway, pp. 175-192. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
49.
Lorentzen, Svein
(1988) `Det nasjonale i grunnskolens historie-bøker - et selvbilde i forandring', in Knut Jordheim (ed.) Årbok for norsk skolehistorie, pp. 12-31. Oslo: NKS-Forlaget.
50.
Lunden, Kåre
(1992) Norsk grålysning: norsk nasjonalisme 1770-1814. Oslo: Samlaget.
51.
Mandel, Ernest
(1975) Late Capitalism. London: Verso.
52.
Martin, Emily
(1992) `The End of the Body?', American Ethnologist19(1): 121-141.
53.
Martin, Emily
(1994) Flexible Bodies: Tracking Immunity in American Culture - From the Days of Polio to the Age of AIDS. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
54.
Miller, Alice
(1981) The Drama of the Gifted Child. New York: Basic Books.
55.
Mjøset, Lars
(1993) `Norwegian Political Economy', in Anne Cohen Kiel (ed.) Continuity and Change: Aspects of Contemporary Norway, pp. 107-130. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
56.
Moxnes, Kari
(1990) Kjernesprengning i familien. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
57.
Nordby, Trond
(1994) `But Nationalism was not Dead', in Norwegian Literature 1994, The Norseman Special Issue No. 4/5 (September): 20-27.
58.
Olweus, Dan
(1993) Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do. Oxford: Basil Blackwell (Understanding Children's World series).
59.
Pharo, Helge
(1993) `Norway and the World Since 1945', in Anne Cohen Kiel (ed.) Continuity and Change: Aspects of Contemporary Norway, pp. 233-261. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
60.
Piore, Michael
and Charles F. Sabel (1984) The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity. New York: Basic Books.
61.
Rudie, Ingrid
(ed.) (1984) Myk start - hard landing. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
62.
Schneider, David M.
(1980) American Kinship: A Cultural Account, 2nd edn.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
63.
Selmer-Olsen, Ivar
(1990) Barn imellom - og de voksne. En bok om barns egen kultur. Oslo: Gyldendal.
64.
Sennett, Richard (1978) The Fall of Public Man. New York. Vintage Books.
65.
Skard, Åse Gruda
(1976) Skal vi sette grenser for barna?Oslo: Sosialdepartementets Småskrifter.
66.
Smith, Anthony D.
(1991) National Identity. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
67.
Solberg, Anne
(1990) `Negotiating Childhood: Changing Constructions of Age for Norwegian Children' in Allison James and Alan Prout (eds) Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood. London: Falmer Press.
68.
Sørensen, Øystein
(1994) `The Development of a Norwegian National Identity During the Nineteenth Century', in Øystein Sørensen (ed.) Nordic Paths to National Identity. Nasjonal identitet, No. 1/94: 17-36. Oslo: The Research Council of Norway.
69.
Stephens, Sharon
(1993) `The Social Construction of an Invisible Event: Chernobyl Fallout in Norway', paper presented at the Conference `Meeting Grounds: Cultural Boundaries and Borderlands', The Chicago Arts Council. Chicago, 11-12 November.
70.
Stephens, Sharon
(1994) `Introduction', in `Children and Environment: Local Worlds and Global Connections', Special Issue, Childhood2(½): 1-21.
71.
Stephens, Sharon
(1995) `Introduction', in Sharon Stephens (ed.) Children and the Politics of Culture: Rights, Risks and Reconstructions, pp. 3-50. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
72.
Stephens, Sharon (n.d.) `Postmodern Anthropology: A Question of Difference'. (MS, files of the author.)
73.
Stolcke, Verena
(1993) `Is Sex to Gender as Race is to Ethnicity?', in Teresa del Valle (ed.) Gendered Anthropology, pp. 17-37. London: Routledge.
74.
Støylen, Bernt
(1899) Norske barnerim og leikar. Kristiania: H. Aschehoug and Co. forlag.
75.
Telhaug, Alfred O.
(1992) `Skolefritidsordningene - den store innesperringen? Beskrivelse og analyse av en utvidet institusjonalisering av barndommen', in Alfred Oftedal Telhaug (ed.) Norsk og internasjonal skoleutvikling: Studier i 1980-årenes restaurative bevegelse, Ch. 7. Oslo: Ad Notam/Gyldendal.
76.
Thorsen, Liv Emma
(1993) Det fleksible kjønn. Mentalitets-endringer i tre generasjoner bondekvinner. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
77.
Tiller, Per Olav
(1989) Hverandre. En bok om barneforskning. Oslo: Gyldendal.
78.
Wadel, Cato
(ed.) (1983) Dagliglivets organisering. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.
79.
Witoszek, Nina
(1991) `17. mai - ein rite ved slutten av historia', Syn og segn97(4): 335-346.
