Calls for Papers: Publishing

CFP: Children and Young People in Times of Conflict and Change: child rights in the Middle East and North Africa, 5/15/14

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CALL FOR PAPERS 
Special issue of Global Studies of Childhood 
Children and Young People in Times of Conflict and Change: child rights in the Middle East and North Africa 
Guest Editors: Debbie Watson (University of Bristol), Kristen Cheney (International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, Rotterdam) and Heba Raouf Ezzat (University of Cairo)
 
The aim of this special issue of the journal Global Studies of Childhood (Volume 5 Number 2 2015) is to bring together papers from established and emergent academics and practitioners who have direct experience and empirical data on the lives of children in the Middle East and North African (MENA) regions, particularly since the Arab Spring revolutions. A critical focus will be on the role of children and young people in influencing political and cultural change in the region and the impacts upon them of conflict and political change.
There is an emergent academic literature and debates on the Arab Spring, children are largely absent from this literature. Although examples can be found in the works of Campante and Chor (2012); Gibbons, (2012); Joffe (2011); Nada and El Daw, (2010); Elkoussi and Bakheet, (2011); Ezbawy (2012); Ammar, (2009); Kotb et al, (2011), most of this literature focuses on either reporting the atrocities and poor quality of life of children in the region, or has a specific focus on the role of social media in the revolutions (Hassan, 2012, Stepanova, 2011, Herrera, 2011) and in particular the role of youth in political action (Youniss et al., 2013, Ezbawy, 2012, Wardany, 2012).
There is a need to tell the multiple unheard children’s and young people’s stories that have emerged in respect of their rights, their participation, and their diverse and varied childhoods within the contexts of political changes and conflicts in the region. This proposed special issue aims to provide a forum for these issues to be reported.
 
We are seeking abstract submissions that address the following objectives: 
• Detail unheard research stories of children and young people’s lives in the MENA region;
• Recognise the diversities of childhood experiences in the region related to dimensions of difference and intersectionality;
• Challenge pathologising and stereotyped understandings of children and young people living in MENA countries;
• Problematise media representations of young people’s involvement in political struggles in the region;
• Identify and understand challenges in respect of children and young people’s rights and universal rights-based approaches based on the UNCRC in the MENA countries;
• Consider ways in which professional education can enhance rights-based practices with and for children and young people;
• Explore ways in which it is possible to effect policy changes for children and young people in the MENA region.
 
Please submit proposed titles and abstracts of no more than 500 words to Debbie Watson (corresponding editor) who will also be happy to discuss abstract ideas with potential authors.
 
Schedule 
Abstracts submitted (500 words) May 15th 2014 
Decision on papers to be included and notification to authors June 2014 
Submission of first draft of paper Sept 30th 2014 
Decision on papers and feedback to authors Nov 2014 
Authors to submit final papers to editors Jan 30th 2015 
Review all papers and finalize March 2015 
To the publisher by April 15th 2015 
 
References 

AMMAR, N. H. (2009) The Relationship Between Street Children and the Justice System in Egypt. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 53, 556-573. 

CAMPANTE, F. R. & CHOR, D. (2012) Why was the Arab world poised for revolution? Schooling, economic opportunities, and the Arab spring. The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 26, 167-187. ELKOUSSI, A. & BAKHEET, S. (2011) Volatile substance misuse among street children in Upper Egypt. Substance Use & Misuse, 46, 35-39. 

EZBAWY, Y. A. (2012) The Role of the Youth’s New Protest Movements in the January 25th Revolution. IDS Bulletin, 43, 26-36. 

GIBBONS, J. (2012) Roadmaps for social transformation: Arab spring. The Second ISA Forum of Sociology (August 1-4, 2012). Isaconf. 

HASSAN, K. (2012) Making Sense of the Arab Spring: Listening to the voices of Middle Eastern activists. Development, 55, 232-238. 

HERRERA, L. (2011) Egypt’s Revolution 2.0: The Facebook Factor, Jadaliyya 

JOFFE, G. (2011) The Arab spring in North Africa: origins and prospects. The Journal of North African Studies, 16, 507-532. 

KOTB, A. M., MOHAMED, A. G., ABDEL KHALEK, E. M. & YONES, D. A. (2011) Agricultural Labor among School Children in Rural Assiut, Egypt. Life Science Journal, 8, 332-339. 

NADA, K. H. & EL DAW, A. S. (2010) Violence, abuse, alcohol and drug use, and sexual behaviors in street children of Greater Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt. Aids, 24, S39-S44. 

STEPANOVA, E. (2011) The role of information communication technologies in the Arab Spring. PONARS Eurasia, 1-6. 

WARDANY, Y. (2012) The Mubarak Regime’s Failed Youth Policies and the January Uprising, IDS Bulletin, 43, 37-46. 

YOUNISS, J., BARBER, B. K. & BILLEN, R. M. (2013) Children in the garden of democracy: The meaning of civic engagement in today’s Egypt. JSSE-Journal of Social Science Education, 12.