The Children, Youth and Environments Journal  just published a special issue, “Child-Friendly Cities: Critical Perspectives” available on:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.25.issue-2

An overview article discusses recent developments and develops a typology of the roles of children and youth as users, consumers, entrepreneurs, and co-producers of cities in a globalizing world. Other articles cover accreditation of child-friendly cities, spatializing children’s rights, qualitative vs. quantitative standards for play space, appropriation of public spacesparticipatory planning with children, and connectedness to nature, among others.  The issue includes papers from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Sweden, India, Ireland, and New Zealand.  It also includes several excellent book reviews and thoughtful critique of Robert Putnam’s new book “Our Kids:  The American Dream in Crisis.”

Children, Youth and Environments  (CYE) accepts 25% of submissions for publication after a double-blind peer-review process. It has readers in over 150 countries who annually make more than 35,000 requests for full-text downloads.  Articles published in CYE from 2003 through the end of 2011 were cited on average 17.2 times.

CFP – Childhood and Youth Network of the Social Science History Association

Call for Papers

We invite you to participate in the annual meeting of the Social Science History Association by submitting a paper or session proposal to the Childhood and Youth Network of the SSHA.  The conference will take place November 17-20, 2016 in Chicago, IL. For more information on the conference as well as the general call for proposals, please refer to the SSHA website: http://www.ssha.org. The deadline for full panel or individual paper proposals is February 20, 2016.  

The association particularly emphasizes interdisciplinary and transnational research, and the annual meeting provides a very supportive environment in which to present new work. The theme of the 2016 conference is “Beyond Social Science History: Knowledge in an Interdisciplinary World,” though papers on any other aspects of the history of childhood and youth are also certainly welcome. Complete panels must include at least 4 papers and presenters from more than one academic institution. Other formats, including roundtable discussions and book sessions, are also possible. Please do get in touch with the network chairs if you have an idea for a session but need help gathering presenters.
Proposals can be submitted by means of a web conference management system at http://ssha.org. If you haven’t used the system previously you will need to create an account, which is a very simple process. Graduate students presenting at the conference may apply for a travel grant from the SSHA (http://www.ssha.org/grants).
Let us know if you need any help making a submission or advice about a proposal. If you have any questions, please contact the Childhood and Youth network co-chairs:
Emily Bruce: bruce088@umn.edu
Anna Kuxhausen: kux@stolaf.edu
Ataçan Atakan: atacanatakan88@gmail.com
Possible themes suggested at the 2015 Childhood and Youth network meeting include:
  • child refugees
  • girlhood in comparative perspective
  • postcolonial theory in childhood studies
  • childhood illness in graphic memoirs
  • adoption
  • childhood and the history of emotions
  • parenting and experts in an interdisciplinary world
  • children in revolutions; childhood and war
  • youth and disability
  • queer childhoods
  • performativity and childhood
  • children’s literature
  • state-child relations
  • childhood and religion
  • race, class and childhood

CFP – Reimagining the Child: Next Steps in the Study of Childhood(s)

A Graduate Student Conference

The Rutgers University – Camden Graduate Student Organization in Childhood Studies is pleased to announce our third graduate student conference, to be held 22-23 April 2016 in Camden, New Jersey. Graduate students and others at a similar stage of career in all disciplines who are engaged in research relating to children and youth are encouraged to submit proposals.

Since its inception, the field of childhood studies has pushed boundaries in academic approaches to children and childhood. It has challenged scholars to refigure children as active participants in society and constructors of their own life experiences, worked to give voice to young people in research, promoted the understanding of childhood as a socially-constructed category, and encouraged groundbreaking interdisciplinary methodology and analysis. We recognize, however, that innovative thinking about children and childhood is not limited to those scholars working directly in the field of childhood studies. The goal of this year’s graduate student conference is to bring together graduate students and other early-career scholars whose work represents a contribution to expanding academic understandings of and approaches to children and childhood.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Theorizations and discourses of childhood
  • Representations of children in media
  • Relationships between children and technology
  • Considering children in approaches to human rights, ethics, and morality
  • Children’s culture(s)
  • Children as social agents
  •  Bringing children’s voices to academic study
  • Children’s participation in research and as researchers
  • Emerging and diverse perspectives on childhood in psychology
  • Children and views of “the child” in politics and policy
  • Geographies and histories of childhood
  • Differences and parallels in diverse experiences of childhood
  • Intersections of childhood with other social categories, such as gender, race, and disability
  • Changing understandings of childhood and their implications for teaching and learning

Proposals are welcome from scholars in all fields, including sociology, anthropology, history, literature, philosophy, media studies, fine arts, political science, public policy, geography, psychology, and education. We are particularly looking for presenters engaged in interdisciplinary work.

Submissions: Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to the conference chair, Julian Burton, at julian.burton@rutgers.edu. Include the words “conference abstract” in the subject line. Please include your name, current level of study, and affiliated institution in the body of your e-mail. Attach your abstract as a separate document containing no personally identifying information.

Deadline: 20 December 2015. Notifications will be sent to accepted presenters by January 31, 2015.

Further information will be made available on the Childhood Studies Rutgers Facebook page at facebook.com/childhoodruc and the Childhood Studies Grad Student Organization events page at rulinked.camden.rutgers.edu/organization/csgs/events.

Job opening – Professor in Child Studies, historical emphasis

Appointment as professor in Child studies with a historical bearing

Child Studies, Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University, Sweden, invites applications for an appointment as Professor in Child Studies with a focus on children and childhood from a historical perspective. The application must be received at latest January 28, 2016. Please see attached announcement for further details:

http://www.liu.se/jobba/lediga-jobb?l=en&&rmpage=job&rmjob=2374&rmlang=UK

Child Studies carries out unique research combining a focus on children’s agency and their social interactions with a critical and theoretical awareness of the shifting meanings of childhood in time and place. We welcome all applicants who are interested in developing their research on children and childhood with a historical bearing in a multi- and transdisciplinary environment.

If you have questions, please contact me, Karin Zetterqvist Nelson (karin.zetterqvist.nelson@liu.se) or my colleague Asta Cekaite (asta.cekaite@liu.se), at Child studies: http://www.tema.liu.se/tema-b?l=en&sc=true

CFP – RU Childhood Studies Grad Student Conference

The Rutgers University – Camden Graduate Student Organization in Childhood Studies is pleased to announce our third graduate student conference, to be held 22-23 April 2016 in Camden, New Jersey. Graduate students and others at a similar stage of career in all disciplines who are engaged in research relating to children and youth are encouraged to submit proposals.

The title of this year’s conference is “Reimagining the Child: Next Steps in the Study of Childhood(s)”.

Since its inception, the field of childhood studies has pushed boundaries in academic approaches to children and childhood. It has challenged scholars to refigure children as active participants in society and constructors of their own life experiences, worked to give voice to young people in research, promoted the understanding of childhood as a socially-constructed category, and encouraged groundbreaking interdisciplinary methodology and analysis. We recognize, however, that innovative thinking about children and childhood is not limited to those scholars working directly in the field of childhood studies. The goal of this year’s graduate student conference is to bring together graduate students and other early-career scholars whose work represents a contribution to expanding academic understandings of and approaches to children and childhood.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Theorizations and discourses of childhood
• Representations of children in media
• Relationships between children and technology
• Considering children in approaches to human rights, ethics, and morality
• Children’s culture(s)
• Children as social agents
• Bringing children’s voices to academic study
• Children’s participation in research and as researchers
• Emerging and diverse perspectives on childhood in psychology
• Children and views of “the child” in politics and policy
• Geographies and histories of childhood
• Differences and parallels in diverse experiences of childhood
• Intersections of childhood with other social categories, such as gender, race, and disability
• Changing understandings of childhood and their implications for teaching and learning

Proposals are welcome from scholars in all fields, including sociology, anthropology, history, literature, philosophy, media studies, fine arts, political science, public policy, geography, psychology, and education. We are particularly looking for presenters engaged in interdisciplinary work.

Please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to the conference chair, Julian Burton, at julian.burton@rutgers.edu. Include the words “conference abstract” in the subject line. Please include your name, current level of study, and affiliated institution in the body of your e-mail. Attach your abstract as a separate document containing no personally identifying information.

Deadline: 20 December 2015. Notifications will be sent to accepted presenters by 31 January 2016.

Further information will be made available on the Childhood Studies Rutgers Facebook page at facebook.com/childhoodruc and the event page at http://tinyurl.com/childhood2016

Project & Upcoming Conference – Childhood Studies in the Global South

Exploring Childhood Studies in the Global South

The ‘Exploring Childhood Studies in the Global South’ project seeks to bring together researchers exploring childhood and children’s lives in diverse contexts in the Global South to engage in theory development using the various empirical studies that have been produced on Southern childhoods as a starting point for dialogue and action.

The central questions of this project are:  

  1. How, if at all, do theoretical concepts relating to childhood research in the North transfer to various social, cultural and political contexts in the Global South?
  2. What are the key theoretical priorities for child-focused researchers working in diverse contexts in the Global South and why?/What theoretical concepts do childhood researchers focusing on Southern childhoods find most useful and why?
  3. How can these theoretical priorities identified by child-focused researchers working on Southern childhoods be better reflected in dominant discourses within the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies?
  4. What challenges exist which may prevent the incorporation of theories developed by academics focusing on Southern childhoods into more dominant discourses relating to childhood studies?

These questions will be addressed through two initiatives in particular:

  1. The organisation of a three-day workshop in January 2016 for childhood academics and researchers with various levels of experience working within diverse Southern contexts including those based within institutions in the South.

    Dates: 19-21 January 2016
    Venue: The University of Sheffield
    Note Deadline for Registration: 20th December 2015

  2. The development of a website which will host the following:
    • The Southern Childhoods Network which is a virtual network of childhood scholars, policy-makers and practitioners which seeks to facilitate dialogue, action and collaboration.
    • An online database of childhood researchers and academics focusing on the Global South.
    • A database of open access articles in English, French and Spanish with a particular focus on childhood and children’s lives in the Global South.
    • Webinars facilitated by key academics in the area of global childhood studies.

      Please visit our website http://www.southernchildhoods.org/

The project is managed by Dr. Afua Twum-Danso Imoh at the University of Sheffield, hosted by the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth and funded by the British Academy Rising Star Scheme.

Call for Early Neos Submissions

Dear ACYIG Members,

As you recover from the AAA Meeting, please consider adapting your conference paper for publication as a Neos article. If you attended a session that inspired you, consider writing about it!

ACYIG is now soliciting early article submissions for the February 2016 issue of Neos. Submissions received by the priority deadline of Friday, December 4, 2015 will be reviewed for the February issue. We will also accept contributions during our regular rolling submission period of Monday, December 14Monday, January 4, but articles received after December 4 will be pushed back to the next issue. All material should be sent to ACYIG.Editor@gmail.com.

Please consider the following types of article submissions for our priority deadline of December 4:

ARTICLES (1000 words or less, including references)

Methods & Ethics in the Anthropology of Children and Youth, in which members explore the methods and ethics of doing research with children or youth. 

Childhood and _______ (you fill in the blank!), in which members discuss a topic of interest to their research.

My Experiences/Intersections with Interdisciplinary Research on Children and Youth, in which members investigate the value, pitfalls, and lessons associated with combining anthropological research with that of other disciplines to study children and youth.

An Ethnography of Children or Youth that has Impacted My Work, in which members discuss their favorite classic or contemporary ethnography of children or youth. Note that this should NOT be written as a book review, but rather as an account of how a particular ethnography has impacted your theoretical or methodological approach, or how it might be used in your teaching.

Children and Youth in Our Lives and Our Work, in which members discuss the challenges and triumphs of balancing their own lives with their research, focusing particularly on the field work stage.

Other contributions will be accepted during the regular rolling submission period of December 14January 4:

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS 

Letters to the Editor (250 words or less), in which members comment on Neos and/or its contents.

Photos from the Field, which should be accompanied by a caption of 30 words or less explaining the context of the photo.

New Book Announcements (250 words or less), which must include the title, author, publisher (and the book series, if applicable), date of publication, and listing price of the book, in addition to a description of the contents. If possible, please send, as a separate attachment, a digital image of the book cover.

Member News (200 words or less), in which members may submit job announcements and research opportunities; grants/prizes available; calls for papers and conference announcements; recent appointments; grants received and/or prizes awarded; publication announcements; and other professional achievements.

Correction Notices may be submitted to the editor if Neos has printed an error in a previous issue.

Please refer to the General Submission Guidelines on our website at https://acyig.americananthro.org/neos/neos-submission-guidelines/ for more detailed information.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

Best,

Kate Feinberg Robins and Aviva Sinervo
Co-Editors for February 2016 issue of Neos

CFP: Arc | Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies

Arc | Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies
McGill University, William and Henry Birks Building

3520 University St., Montreal, QC H3A 2A7
arcrelg.mcgill.ca | arc.relgstud@mcgill.ca

Call for Papers

The editors of Arc: The Journal of the Faculty of Religious Studies are pleased to announce the call for papers for an upcoming 2016 special issue (Vol. 43). We welcome article submissions addressing the challenges involved in developing educational approaches that promote religious diversity and mutual understanding while preventing forms of religious extremism and radicalization. This theme represents an intersection between the study of religion, education and public policy. Article submissions, however, may address that intersection from a wide range of academic disciples that further include, but are not limited to:

  • Anthropology
  •  Childhood studies
  •  Comparative religions
  • Ethics
  • Gender
  • History
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology
  • Politics
  • Sociology

Arc is an interdisciplinary, refereed journal published annually by the Faculty of Religious Studies, McGill University. The journal combines the talents of professors and graduate students in offering space for scholarly discussions on various aspects of the academic study of religion, including method and theory in the study of religion.

Arc encourages submissions from diverse religious traditions and perspectives. The submission deadline is January 25, 2016. For detailed submission guidelines, please consult the Guidelines for Contributors (PDF) on our website. All electronic correspondence should be sent to the editors of this special issue, Michael Gollner and Jon Waind, at the following email address: arc.relgstud@mcgill.ca.