Interrupting ‘the Other’ Childhood: On Social Circus in Asylum Accommodations

Abstract

Social circus has emerged as a complement to regular health and welfare interventions for identified target groups, often striving for social change. Previous studies point out the challenge of identifying target groups without simultaneously positioning said groups as ‘others’. Although children and childhood are intimately intertwined with circus, not least as target groups for circus arts interventions, there are no previous studies that examine constitutions of childhood through social circus. This article is based on a 1.5-year long ethnographic fieldwork on a project using circus in asylum accommodations in Sweden. The aim is to explore the childhood(s) constituted through social circus practice in asylum accommodations in Sweden, with focus on the work of the social circus team. The analysis draws upon childhood sociology informed by critical theory, asking what discursive positions are offered the target group through the social circus project. The analysis shows that when identifying the target group, the team navigated through contradictory discourses. Establishing and upholding a discourse on childhood as playful, the circus activities interrupted the positioning of children in dislocation as ‘others’. The design of the project, as well as the ever-shifting roles in the interaction between all participants, enabled new positions for all.