Visuell analys av föreställningar om barn och natur

Abstract

In everyday culture it is a common practice to relate children to nature and vice versa. The question
raised in this article is what notions such a relationship creates and is used for. Visual culture is used
in the analysis of two empirical examples from commercials and outdoor education. The analysis focuses on signs of age, gender and ethnicity used when children and nature are related. The result
demonstrates that it is bright colored children of low age and with undefined gender that is used in
these child-nature representations. Together children and nature create strong notions of innocence
and pureness. The notions created with reference to children are used to support sustainable development at the same time as they encourage consumption and specific pedagogical ideas. The concluding
discussion concerns what are at risk when upholding an uncritical approach to the reenactment of the
child-nature relationship.