Category Archives: ACYIG Blog

ACYIG Blog, Announcements

Latest Spotlight on Scholarship: Funk et al. on how sweet potatoes can replace teddy bears in child development

We are a team of six authors from Germany, the US, and India with backgrounds in socio-cultural anthropology and cultural psychology. Our book explores multifaceted linkages between culturally specific feeding practices and human bonding based on ethnographic case studies from Morocco, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Costa Rica.

 

 

 

 

 

A comparative analysis of our ethnographic research demonstrates that there are many culturally valued ways of feeding children, contradicting the idea of a single, universally best feeding standard. We show that in many parts of the world feeding plays a central role in human bonding and relationship formation, something largely overlooked by attachment theory and related approaches. Our analysis further demonstrates that feeding contributes to relationship formation through different socio-emotional dimensions, which we label proximal, transactional, and distal. Each of these relates to a specific aspect of the feeding relationship (e.g., physical intimacy, food as a life-sustaining gift, conviviality) and is experienced by qualitatively distinct emotions. Finally, we argue that feeding practices can lead to different forms of relationships. Through feeding and eating together, caregivers express core values about how different generations should relate to each other. In our research sites, intergenerational feeding relationships are either hierarchically organized, or characterized by a mix of egalitarian and hierarchical orientations.

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ACYIG Blog

Latest Spotlight on Scholarship: Francesca Meloni’s Way’s of Belonging

In Canada, as in many other countries around the world, undocumented young people are struggling to access social rights such as education and healthcare. Their lives are shaped by chronic uncertainty and invisibility due to restrictive anti-migration policies, leaving thousands of young people caught between the movements of hiding and running for fear of being deported. How do these young people navigate everyday interactions when they have to hide themselves and their legal status? How do they relate to their social environment when they might be deported and separated from their friends at any moment?

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ACYIG Blog

Children as Political Subjects in the Age of Uncertainty

by Seran Demiral (Boğaziçi University, Primary Education & at Kadir Has University, City and Children Studies)

In our contemporary world, certainty has left its place to flexibility, adaptability and willingness to change (Lee 2005:19). A new sociology of childhood addresses children’s agency to debate child ‘beings’ as both individuals for their own lives and social actors to affect the world. At that point, agency matter is discussed through other concepts, like subjectivity and/or competency. Bollig and Kelle (2016:37) claim that “the acting subject or the competent actor is replaced with a concept of participation in practices.” It is obvious that not only globalization but also digital technologies have changed our culture so that “from a global perspective childhood culture is becoming more homogenized” (Prout 2005:29). Besides, politics and childhood movements all over the world have become similar, especially during this decade.

Atlas Sarrafoğlu, Greta Thunberg, Selin Gören respectively[1]

 

Children can be aware of what happens in other places of the world and how their peers live. As it is known that Greta Thunberg has become an enormous inspiration for many children and young people from different countries, for instance, Atlas Sarrafoğlu gave a start for children’s climate activism in Turkey. Atlas was also honoured by the 2020 WWF International President’s Youth Award (BIA 2020), which is an indicator that childhood movements can be seen by institutions and authorities. After several months of children’s first universal school strike, Atlas and another young activist from Turkey, Selin Gören, attended the “Smile for Future summit” in Lausanne, Switzerland. Their meeting might have affected Greta’s sensitivity about ecologic resistance in Canakkale, so that she said, “Ida Mountains belong to us all” in Turkish (BIA 2019).

Trafalgar Square, London. Extinction Rebellion cover it with children’s shoes in protest against climate change – Copyright  Anthony Jarman[2]

 

In this age of uncertainty due to unexpected viruses to ecological issues, it is only possible to struggle against emerging crisis via extraordinary perspectives by new generations. Today’s children as “naturally adept users of technology” (Prout 2005, 119) are more competent to use ICT effectively to access and re-create knowledge. Despite arising inequalities between children with different experiences upon their socioeconomic background or the country they come from, they have power to be aware of all matters in the world by means of spending time online, and there is a potential for them to unite via online platforms. For example, there is an association for children: XR Kids, who are related to a universal activist group, Extinction Rebellion (XR) whose latest statement is “COVID today Climate tomorrow Act now” (Campbell 2020).

Furthermore, Atlas might have learned about the XR movement from Omer Madra, who has also been a part of this global movement. In a climate conference in Istanbul, Turkey, he was one of the speakers. There was also a section for children (The Green Thought Association 2019). It is quite important to influence children to start an action for the world they will survive. During the lockdown process and the beginning of online education, children’s digital activism and possibilities to develop new strategies for a childhood movement have also been argued through various writing and commentaries; for instance, I discussed children’s potentials to create organizations at the micro-level (Demiral 2020:65) by referring to Janusz Korczak’s heritage on children’s rights and participation.

Elsie Luna, the founder of XR Kids, said “I dream of a world free of racism, adultism, ageism, sexism, disablism, and classism” in her interview with Sarrafoğlu (2020). Besides, Elsie states that homeschooling gives her “more time to study activism-related things. In a way, it’s like striking every day!” which shows us children’s perspectives as flexible, willing to change the circumstances through digital activism. Therefore, the effects of coronavirus and online education/learning as mandatory may cause new opportunities for children and young people to develop. The disadvantages of homeschooling used to be seen as the insufficient socialization, whereas, it is quite possible to socialize and gathering through digital spaces in our contemporary world, which has already become a usual habit for youngers.

“Declaration of XR Kids[3]”

 

As an inspiring example, a small-sized collective community, ‘Extinction Rebellion Kids’ is able to benefit from the aspects of the digital world. The manifesto by XR Kids (2020) demands change to handle the challenges their generation has faced and not to be underestimated because of their age, indicating, “We 8-12 year-olds are more than capable of creating mass systematic change.” In conclusion, children have awareness and feel competent to change the world. Therefore, we as researchers in childhood studies should remember to take children seriously and recognize children as political subjects.

 

References

Bollig, Sabine, and Helga Kelle

2016 Children as participants in practices: the challenges which practice theories pose to an actor-centred sociology of childhood.” In Routledge research in education: Vol. 161. Reconceptualising Agency and Childhood: New Perspectives in Childhood Studies, edited by Florian Esser, Meike S. Baader, Tanja Betzand Beatrice Hungerland, 34-47. London and New York: Routledge.

Demiral, Seran

2020 “Visible, more than Ever: Unequal Childhoods in Istanbul during COVID-19.” In WHAT WOULD KORCZAK DO? Reflections on Education, Well-being and Children’s Rights in the Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic, edited by Anna Odrowąż-Coates, 58-69. Warsaw: The Maria Grzegorzewska University.

Lee, Nick

2005 Childhood and Society: Growing up in an age of uncertainty. 3rd Edition. Maidenhead, Berkshire: Open University.

Prout, Alan

2005 The Future of Childhood: Towards the Interdisciplinary Study of Children. London and New York: Routledge Falmer.

Internet Sources

BIA News Desk

2019 “Message from Greta Thunberg: Ida Mountains Belong to us All.” Accessed August 21, 2020. http://bianet.org/english/environment/211516-message-from-greta-thunberg-ida-mountains-belong-to-us-all

BIA News Desk

2020 “Climate Activist Atlas Sarrafoğlu Wins WWF International Youth Award.” Accessed August 21, 2020 http://bianet.org/english/youth/224581-climate-activist-atlas-sarrafoglu-wins-wwf-international-youth-award

Campbell, Maeve

2020 “Thousands of Kids’ Shoes Appear in London Square as a Form of Protest.” Accessed August 21, 2020 https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/05/19/thousands-of-kids-shoes-appear-in-london-square-as-a-form-of-protest

Sarrafoğlu, Atlas

2020 “Elsie Luna: Ecological breakdown has already started [Climate Generation Talks-4]” Accessed August 21, 2020 https://yesilgazete.org/blog/2020/02/26/elsie-luna-ecological-breakdown-has-already-started-people-are-already-dying-climate-generation-talks-4/

The Green Thought Association [Yeşil Düşünce Derneği]

2019 “Climate Conference” http://yesildusunce.org/en/climate-conference/

XR Kids Instagram page: extinctionrebellionkids

2019 “Declaration of XR Kids” Accessed August 21, 2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Ua_j7HIWb/

[1] The source: https://twitter.com/AtlasSarrafoglu/status/1159157981252075521?s=20 (from Atlas’s public account on Twitter)

[2] The source of the photograph: https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/05/19/thousands-of-kids-shoes-appear-in-london-square-as-a-form-of-protest

[3] The source: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Ua_j7HIWb/  from the public account of XR Kids on Instagram.

For more information or discussion:

https://www.instagram.com/serandem/

https://www.facebook.com/serandem

https://twitter.com/serandemiral

https://mimarsinan.academia.edu/SeranDemiral

ACYIG Blog

Area 51: Child’s Play and Conspiracy Theories

 By Elisa (EJ) Sobo (SDSU)

Evolutionary biologist Karl Groos observed more than 120 years ago that “animals do not play because they are young,” adding “they have their youth because they must play” (1898:76). With a few classic exceptions, this idea—equating children with play—colors what most people assume to be the anthropological study of childhood’s central focus. However, especially of late, we’ve seen plenty of explorations of how children cope with abuse and neglect, their role as household go-betweens or liaisons between the domestic and public realms, their productive capacities, and contributions to allocare as well as their service in the role of household head. Also of late, scholars have begun to see the value of play past the juvenile state.

Explorations of play in adulthood do differ in significant ways from those undertaken with or focused on children. That said, those who study play among adults have a lot to learn from the anthropological study of play in children; and in time, growth in understanding might be bidirectional. I realized this myself while engaged in a project on conspiracism. I was almost done, I thought, when an interview with the frisky young organizer of the Storm Area 51 event came across my screen, throwing my scholarly sobriety into a tailspin of sorts, or really, more of a cartwheel: an op-ed emerged in response.

In short, the op-ed, whose working title is ‘Free Beer for Aliens,’ asks conspiracy theory scholarship to bring play into the work. I also would suggest here that anthropologists of childhood might benefit conversely. Perhaps it is time we take more seriously as conspiracy theories the knowledge children create and carry in regard to the manipulations of parents, teachers, and others who hold power over them.

If you are interested in conspiracy theory scholarship and bringing play into this work, contact Elisa Sobo.

ACYIG Blog

Who are the ‘Experts’? Coproducing knowledge with adolescents in Bulgaria and Tanzania

by Kristen Cheney

(This work first appeared in its original form on BLISS on September 26, 2018. This is an updated version. Read the original here with photos)

It is often assumed that social research is the domain of experts—and that those experts are necessarily adults. Most research on adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights (ASRHR) is adult-led and adult-centered, not only ignoring young voices but denying diversity amongst young people. Information about young people’s sexuality therefore often remains insulated within their peer groups, preventing innovation in ASRHR programming. This too often leads to a deficit or pathological perspective on adolescence in ASRHR research and intervention.

ISS departs from this premise in our latest youth participatory research project, Adolescents’ Perceptions of Healthy Relationships. The APHR project is funded by the Oak Foundation, with the objective to inform their child abuse prevention programming through greater attention to the broader societal, structural factors that provide an enabling environment for the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The project is led by ISS’ Kristen Cheney and involves Auma Okwany as East Africa lead researcher. Continue reading Who are the ‘Experts’? Coproducing knowledge with adolescents in Bulgaria and Tanzania →

ACYIG Blog

An Undocumented College Student’s Journey of Hyperdocumentation in Drawings

by Aurora Chang and Espiritu*

(This work first appeared on Youth Circulations on February 4, 2019. Read the original here with photos)

Espiritu, an undocumented college student, narrates her journey of hyperdocumentation – the excessive production of documents, texts, and papers in an effort to compensate for undocumented status or feelings unworthiness – through her own drawings. Her story is one among so many that need to be told.

Doing research, or storytelling, in this age of post-truth feels entirely demoralizing and … necessary. In a time when any utterance of text is suspect, it can be downright frightening at most and risky, at least, to document anything. When we see powerful leaders spewing personal beliefs and emotions in lieu of facts and evidence, and people embracing this approach to the world, what are we left with?  But the irony of all of this is that right when we find ourselves discouraged to speak is the same time when we must bring our stories to the forefront because they are most threatened. We must also find and provide outlets for young people to share their stories – telling our truths is still the best defense against despair.

Espiritu’s Journey

Espiritu’s big, round, enveloping eyes are dark brown, almost black. Her shiny hair, done up in the most precise tresses, hangs easily below her waist. Soaking wet, she is maybe one hundred pounds. There is a shyness to her toothy smile and an eagerness for knowledge that is palpable. An unaccompanied minor, she hyperdocumented her way through high school, community college and then to a prestigious four-year university on full scholarship. “Hyperdocumentation” is a term I use to define the excessive production of documents, texts, and papers in an effort to compensate for undocumented status or feelings of unworthiness – something I experienced and continue to experience as a once undocumented immigrant myself.

* Espiritu is a nom de plume.

…read more on youthcirculations.com

ACYIG Blog

Pan American Dreams: Youth in the Americas Pursue Globalized Pathways for Change

by Elena Jackson Albarrán

(This work first appeared on Youth Circulations on January 29, 2019. Read the original here with photos)

Latin American youth leaders come to the U.S. every summer to gain skills to take back to their home countries. Over the twentieth century, American nation-states cultivated children and youth as cultural diplomats to promote capitalist-oriented development under the guise of hemispheric brotherhood. But upending the historical flow of knowledge production, this generation is prepared to engage and to defend their local realities and traditions.

A Virtual Reunion

From Panama, Nathanael—Natha, for short—leaned into his headset microphone, his face projected on the wall of a Miami University classroom bursting beyond capacity: “You all have a beautiful campus, wonderful working infrastructure, and incredible access to resources,” he affirmed. The Ohio students nodded—they’ve been told this since first setting foot on Miami’s campus. Indeed, institutional lore attributes an oft-repeated quote to Robert Frost, who hailed it as “the most beautiful campus that there ever was.”  “We don’t have that here in Panama,” Natha emphasized, “but we do have ideas for social and political change.”

SUSI 2018 alumni Militza, in Emberá Querá, Panamá, December 2018. Photo credit Lois Iglesias.

Roger chimed in to the virtual session from Ecuador, affable but pressing: “We have great projects going on, but our resources are constantly imperiled. Find ways to partner with us so that we can work together to effect change at the local level.” A political science major at the Universidad Central de Ecuador, Roger is also a member of the Colectivo Nueva Democracia, which encourages political engagement premised on fomenting cultures of dialogue and consent among emerging young leaders from differing political ideologies. On the side, he’s developing an app to promote eco-tourism in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

…read more on youthcirculations.com

ACYIG Blog

The #Multicultural State: Counter-narratives from migrant youth living in Buenos Aires

by María V. Barbero

(This work first appeared on Youth Circulations on November 11, 2018. Read the original here with photos)

Promotional material produced by City Government for “Buenos Aires Celebra India.” Source

Buenos Aires is multicultural. Buenos Aires is cosmopolitan. Buenos Aires is welcoming and inclusive. Buenos Aires is a city of migrants. These were the messages I heard from state officials while conducting research in Buenos Aires during 2016 and 2017.  Such narratives circulated through the city government’s monthly cultural programing—programing that attracts thousands to iconic parks and streets to eat ethnic food and to celebrate immigrant communities: Buenos Aires Celebra Colombia, Buenos Aires Celebra Italia, Buenos Aires Celebra Paraguay, and so on and so forth. This programing is complemented by commemorative events organized by the national immigration office at the city’s historic museum of immigration.

This robust programming resembles what Lugones (2014)  calls “ornamental multiculturalism,” or a multiculturalism that “reduces non-Western cultures to ornaments to be enjoyed touristically,” while ignoring and obscuring structures of power. These events each generate colorful flyers, professional photographs, short videoclips and hashtags through which the message of an inclusive, multicultural state are circulated via Facebook, Twitter, and government websites.

Yet amid these messages is another, also incredibly robust scene of cultural production, one assembled by migrant youth living in Buenos Aires. This scene involves theater performances, books published with carton and fabric scraps, and radio programing. It is multicultural, multilingual and transnational, and it creates an alternative to the state’s ornamental multiculturalism. It does not shy away from analyzing power relations and deliberately enlists culture as a vehicle for resistance.

…read more on youthcirculations.com