Lecture: Children without borders at Ryerson University

Children without borders: Child mobilities and transnational duties of care
A public lecture by Dr. Karen Wells

November 25, 6-7:30
Ryerson University (Toronto)
Kerr Hall East 323

Dr. Karen Wells is Assistant Dean Geography, Environment and Development Studies and Senior Lecturer in International Development and Childhood Studies at the University of London, Among many publications, Dr. Wells is the author of Childhood in a Global Perspective (2009).
This talk will be followed by a reception in the Early Childhood Studies graduate lounge, which is directly across from the Learning and Teaching Office, Kerr Hall West, Ryerson University (KHW373)

CFP: Children’s History Society Inaugural Conference

Horrible Histories? Children’s Lives in Historical Contexts

16 and 17 June 2016
King’s College London

It is now over forty years since the bold declaration of psychohistorian Lloyd deMause that ‘The history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken’. Stirred by such claims, scholars have subsequently tested the ‘nightmare thesis’ for both the pre-modern and modern eras, locating children’s agency in unexpected places and stressing the contingencies of context, gender, ethnicity, age, class, caste and sexuality. Narratives of historic and contemporary institutional abuse, however, together with insights concerning the legacies of forced child migration, children’s labours and other challenging aspects of childhood experience, suggest that sorrow rather than joy characterises much scholarship on children and childhood. Should this be so?

In another context, since 1993 the phenomenally successful Horrible Histories books, stage plays and television series have helped introduce countless thousands of children around the world to the past. As their titles indicate, Horrible Histories also examine difficult and sometimes grisly historical episodes. Progressive narratives are at work here too, reinforced by children’s museum exhibits emphasising an emergence from the ‘dark ages’ of childhood in the twentieth century.

‘Horrible Histories? Children’s Lives in Historical Contexts’ is the launch conference marking the inauguration of the new UK-based Children’s History Society. Offering a forum for historical reflections from established and upcoming historians of children, childhood and youth, we also anticipate that this will be a platform for school-age scholars to reflect on the ways they respond to the history. This two-day conference invites paper proposals on the following themes:

  • Dealing with difficult history and heritage
  • Children’s histories and the longue durée
  • The ‘West and the rest’ in children’s history
  • Definitions of subjecthood and status
  • Pain and resilience
  • Archival approaches for retrieving children’s agency
  • The things of childhood
  • Play as protest, recreation and the ‘work’ of childhood
  • Children’s histories in museums, online and in the media
  • The histories of children’s places and places for children
  • Future trajectories for researching children’s histories

Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words, together with a two-page CV, to both simon.sleight@kcl.ac.uk and M.C.H.Martin@greenwich.ac.uk by 1 December 2015. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in January. Panel submissions featuring three papers of 15-20 minutes apiece are also encouraged, particularly for panels showcasing in concert transnational and/or long chronological perspectives. Note that our definition of children is flexible, reflecting the multiple constructions through time of childhood as a social category.

The conference will be free to attend, courtesy of the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies and the Department of History, both at King’s College London. Further details will follow regarding accommodation options, conference-related activities and Society administration. If you would like to become involved in the running of the Children’s History Society, please email simon.sleight@kcl.ac.uk and M.C.H.Martin@gre.ac.uk to express your interest by the 1 December deadline.

You can follow the progress of the Children’s History Society on Twitter and Facebook:

https://twitter.com/histchild and https://www.facebook.com/histchild/

 

Warm regards,

Dr Simon Sleight (King’s College London) and Dr Mary Clare Martin (University of Greenwich).

Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London // Centre for the Study of Play and Recreation, University of Greenwich

Book Launch

The Politics of Childhoods Real and Imagined: Practical application of critical realism and childhood studies by Priscilla Alderson

(Routledge, 246pp, Pb: 978-1-138-94889-1 | £26.99  eBook: 978-1-315-66938-0)

This new book relates critical realism to childhood studies in order to research transformative change over time. It summarises key themes across academic disciplines and policy areas, ranging from climate change and social justice between generations, to neoliberalism and reform of public services, to imagining social reform that benefits all age groups. Each chapter considers how children and young people are largely excluded from political and economic global debates, although they are one third of people in the world and are often especially affected by policies and events.

The book is written for everyone who is researching, studying or teaching about childhood, those who care for and work with children and young people, as well as those interested in critical realism.

All are welcome to the book launch: Tuesday 8 December 5.30-7.30

Institute of Education, University College London
(RSVP: ssruadmin@ioe.ac.uk)

Neos highlights—Childhood & Migration

Are you looking for a quick and accessible read to get your students thinking about youth migration? Check out Jayne Howell’s column “‘There’s No Place Like Home?’ Rural Students’ Perspectives on Leaving Home to Study in Oaxaca, Mexico” in the October 2015 issue of Neos (pp. 6-7): http://acyig.americananthro.org/neos/current-issue/. Continue reading Neos highlights—Childhood & Migration

Open Day – MSc in Childhood Studies – Univ. of Edinburgh

Want to know more about the MSc in Childhood Studies, at the University of Edinburgh? There is an Open Day on November 18th 2015 especially for potential Postgraduate Students, where you (or those you work with) can learn more about opportunities at the University as well as about Childhood Studies in particular. For more information on the day, see http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/open-day Continue reading Open Day – MSc in Childhood Studies – Univ. of Edinburgh