The Child of the Common: Governing Children in the Freetown Christiania,Denmark

Children in the intentional community of Christiania, Denmark, are seen as belonging to a flock. They experience a relatively high degree of freedom and autonomy as well as collective supervision/control. Departing from Foucault's conceptualisation of pastoral power and interviews conducted in Christiania, this article explores what the idea of the child as belonging to the common/collective may imply for the governance of children. A unique combination of freedom and supervision, individualism and collectivism, results in a form of responsibilisation that aims to strengthen the community, unlike neo‐liberal responsibilisation, which leaves the individual alone with the freedom to take care of herself.