The corporeality of childhoods in pandemic: audiovisual proposals and parental mediation

Abstract

The article derives from an exploratory fieldwork deployed during the measures of isolation and social distancing due to the pandemic. The object of the research is the corporeality of childhood in relation to the audiovisual proposals offered by families. Our study takes contributions from Sociology, Semiotics and Psychomotricity. We conducted interviews and focus groups with adults in different contexts in the province of Córdoba in 2020 and 2021. Among the main results, we observed that the pandemic and isolation produced questions in families about the audiovisual proposals offered and consumed by children: about the quantity and quality of the content, about possible negative effects on health, especially vision and posture. We also recorded that the audiovisual proposals enabled the possibility of new spaces/times shared with family, and other spaces and other times shared with others with whom contact was denied. As for the content, we observe the recreation of everyday scenes such as competitions and others in which deep meanings resonate around what needs to be elaborated, such as persecution, refuge, care and repair. At the same time, it was possible to notice a certain delegation by adults to “telling the world”. However, we conclude that the corporeal function of families was crossed by the audiovisual proposals.