Phenomenological portrait of Samara childhood (based on the project "Encyclopedia of modern childhood")

The article deals with problems, main directions and methods of studying modern childhood in the humanities. The phenomenon of childhood is characterized as a special sociocultural phenomenon that requires an interdisciplinary methodology for its understanding, as well as implementation of a subjective approach to study rather than a traditional object one. The peculiarity of the research based on the phenomenological approach lies in the formulation and solution of both research and project tasks. Research tasks: fixation, description and interpretation of modern childhood markers based on the material of "Samara childhood"; project tasks: creation and distribution of a methodological product - "Encyclopedia of Modern Childhood" (manuals for adults, created by children), addressed to teachers and parents. The development of the encyclopedia was carried out by the project team of Samara branch MCPU students based on a sample of 2158 Samara schoolchildren. The concept, tools and product of the project "Encyclopedia of Modern Childhood" are characterized. The structure of the empirical content served as the basis for the sections of the manual: "Childhood: associations, thoughts and more", "Growing up, adults, addressing adults", "World of childhood", applications "Incomprehensible words for adults". The interpretive part of the research is represented by a selective content analysis of concepts "childhood", "adult" based on the secondary processing of the results. The analysis of the results reveals the following conclusions: the timeless archetype of child's consciousness maintains the dichotomous opposition of the "world of adults" (boring, problematic) and the "world of children" (carefree, sunny, positive); despite intensification, informatization of the way of life and transformation of the growing environment of a modern child, the perception of childhood as a special, inimitably happy chronotope is inherent in children.