When violence is at the border of the visible: the violence of the smallest gestures

• Published in: Rivista italiana di educazione familiare 2020-01, Vol.16 (1), p.43
• Main Authors: Biffi, Elisabetta, Montà, Chiara Carla
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child Advocacy; Childrens Rights; Corporal punishment; Education; Educational Benefits; Families & family life; Health aspects; Hygiene; Violence
• ISSN: 1973-638X; 2037-1861
• DOI: 10.13128/rief-7979

The paper aims at exploring the risk of violence underneath some small and silent practices (made by gestures, and words) within educational contexts, which can reasonably be considered as part of the general framework for corporal punishments (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, 2006). The attention is, indeed, focused on those daily practices--connected with the main routines, such as lunchtime, playtime, and the practices related to personal hygiene--which have a specific educational value in terms of respect and recognition of the dignity of the child. The essay therefore reconsiders these typologies of smallest gestures from the wider perspective of violence against children (Hamby, Grych, 2013), in order to discuss the connections that exist between violence and education (Biffi, Macinai, 2020), where humiliation and denigration of the child is considered as part of an unacceptable punishment that demonstrates how thin the border between violence and education can be (Schermi, 2016). Finally, the paper will take stock of the path towards the elimination of all corporal punishment, with a specific focus on the role of teachers training in preventing and fighting violence against children, beginning from the sharing of a coherent and respectful educational style, between family and school. Keywords: corporal punishment, education, Italy, family, school. Il contributo intende esplorare il rischio della violenza sotteso alle micro-pratiche educative (fatte di piccoli e silenziosi gesti e parole) dalla prospettiva del corporal punishment (UN Commitee on the Rights of the Child, 2006). L'attenzione è rivolta a quelle pratiche quotidiane--connesse con le routines, quali il pranzo, il gioco e l'igiene personale--che hanno uno specifico valore educativo nei termini del riconoscimento della dignità e del rispetto delle bambine e dei bambini. L'articolo guarda alle micro-pratiche pedagogiche dalla più ampia finestra della violenza all'infanzia (Hamby, Grych, 2013), per discutere le connessioni esistenti tra violenza e educazione (Biffi, Macinai, 2020), dove l'umiliazione e la denigrazione del bambino e della bambina sono viste come componenti di una modalità punitiva inaccettabile, che dimostra quanto possa essere sottile il confine tra violenza e educazione (Schermi, 2016). Infine, il contributo analizza il percorso verso l'abolizione delle punizioni corporali, dedicando specifica attenzione alla formazione degli insegnanti per prevenire e combattere la v