1. ‘Like a Scout Does … Like a Guide Does …’: The Scout or Guide Camp’s Lessons of Identity
- Author
-
Catherine Bannister
- Subjects
Outdoor education ,Natural materials ,Campfire ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Identity (social science) ,Survival skill ,Sociology ,Tracking (education) ,Girl ,Adventure ,media_common ,Visual arts - Abstract
Camping has been fundamental to the Scouting and Girl Guiding programmes since Robert Baden-Powell first trialled his ‘school of the woods’, as he later described Scouting (1930, p.74) at an ‘experimental Boy Scout camp’ in 1907 (Springhall, 1977, p.61). Boys from differing social backgrounds were brought together on Brownsea Island off England’s south coast and organised into small semi self-governing groups or ‘patrols’, spending their days performing what became identifiably ‘Scouting’ practices: building shelters from natural materials, playing tracking games and gathering around the campfire (Jeal, 2001, p.385). This camp was deemed so successful that the following year Scouting was introduced to British children via the ultimate adventure handbook Scouting for Boys (1908). Girl Guiding was a response to girls’ demands to participate in the open-air activities their male peers were enjoying. Steered by Scouting’s handbook, and wearing makeshift uniforms, girls were already forming patrols and embarking on expeditions before Guiding was officially established in 1910 (Proctor, 2009, pp.4–5).
- Published
- 2014
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