Delegation of childcare as a corner stone of children’s interethnic relations

Abstract

Adopting a diachronic perspective, this article explains that childcare and education was, since Ancient times, delegated to non-related persons (governesses, wet nurses, nannies, domestic workers), who provided services in the domestic domain. Since these various professionals belonged often to other ethnic/national groups than their employers, children have been major actors in the establishment of interethnic/cultural relations.