Theme: Communication in the Worlds of Children and Youth: Imagination, Language, Performance, and Creative Expression

When considering the worlds of children, researchers may start with communication as a site of inquiry, examining how children and youth share their experiences and perceptions of places, people, ideas, and more through the use of language, performance, and other creative expressions. Communication is also a methodological concern in terms of how child- and youth-focused researchers generate information about and convey communication from or with children and youth. NEOS invites submissions that speak to imagination, expression, and the senses in terms of how children know, experience, and express their perception of the present and envision the future. Submissions may also reflect these themes as they pertain to child-focused methods such as creative approaches that engage with the sensory, multimodal, performative, and participatory. We invite a range of child and youth studies scholars to submit manuscripts for this issue, and this call for proposals may be of particular interest to (a) communication and performance scholars working with young people, (b) linguistic anthropologists working with young people and language, and (c) ethnographers or child/youth-focused researchers who engage in imaginative and experimental methods concerning how children communicate. Authors may want to consider more multimodal and imaginative inclusions within their text, such as drawings or visual displays of data or findings. We invite submissions that focus on primary and original research around the themes of the issue:

Imagination, Communication, and Expression 

• Young people’s imaginative expressions of the present or future that may include and extend beyond engagements with play or leisure
• Children’s engagement with language including language learning, development, socialization, and change
• Exploration of children’s and youths’ perceptions of their worlds and less-than-expected or unexpected means of expression through verbal, bodily, or silent forms of communicating

Participatory, Multimodal, and Expressive Methods 

• Child- and youth-focused projects that apply and push the conventions of ethnography especially concerning multimodal communication
• The opportunities and challenges of visual and sensory methods in research with young people
• Creative methods that speak to children’s and youths’ “participation” in research and knowledge production including participatory action research, community-based research, and theater or performance-focused projects
• Co-written or co-produced ethnography (as genre) with young people

We invite short-form original research articles (1,200 words max, excluding references) that address the issue’s theme. NEOS also welcomes short pieces (1,200 words max, excluding references) on scholarship and applied research that uplifts racial, economic, and social justice and the dismantling of systemic oppression for a dedicated standing column on anti-racism and equity in child and youth studies.

NEOS is an open-access publication of the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG) of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). We publish research on childhood and youth from scholars working across the four fields of anthropology, as well from those interdisciplinary fields in conversation with anthropological theories and methods. Articles published in NEOS undergo a double-anonymous peer-review process.

The deadline for submissions is August 16, 2023 (end of the day). Rolling submissions prior to August 16th are also welcome.  While not required, authors are encouraged to submit a brief message about their intent to submit to the Co-Editors by August 2nd, 2023. The NEOS Editorial Team may be reached at acyig.editor@gmail.com Visit our website for further information on NEOS, as well as submission guidelines and instructions. You may access the submission portal for the Fall 2023 issue here.