CFP – Special Issue of *Jeunesse* on Mobility

Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures invites essay submissions for a special issue addressing mobility in relation to youth texts and culture(s). We welcome essays that consider registers of race, class, gender, and disability. Essays should be between 6,000 and 9,000 words in length and prepared for blind peer-review. Continue reading CFP – Special Issue of *Jeunesse* on Mobility

Workshop June 10 — After the Iron curtain: Poor parenting and state intervention in cross cultural perspective

A one-day workshop at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge

Wednesday, 10th June, 10-5pm

Across many contemporary societies, the quality of parenting is increasingly seen as imperative, not only for the well-being of individual children, but for the health of communities as a whole. This kind of parenting – increasingly endorsed by both parents and policy makers – has been termed ‘concerted’, ‘intensive’, or even ‘paranoid’ by researchers, pointing to the ‘more’ than the basic childcare that many mothers feel they should do for their children.
The opposite of this is ‘poor’ parenting or ‘unfit’ parents – defined not so much by an approach, as the absence of it. Poor parenting is most often tied to expectations of poor outcomes, where children are seen as being at risk of neglect or maltreatment. Intervention by the state is aimed at ensuring children be saved from such parents, either through training, or by placing children in settings that provide more appropriate care. Since much of the social science research on the topic has been done in what’s called ‘Euro-America’, however, the explanatory framework usually draws on elements of capitalist market economies and social stratifications, such as class, poverty, gender inequality and race. Continue reading Workshop June 10 — After the Iron curtain: Poor parenting and state intervention in cross cultural perspective

CFP: Special issue of JCEPS – “Unheard Learners: Children and Youth Experiences in Neoliberal Schools”

Unheard Learners: Children and Youth Experiences in Neoliberal Schools

The Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies 
Special Issue: December 2015

Guest Editors: Debbie Sonu, Hunter College, City University of New York & Julie Gorlewski, State University of New York at New Paltz 

Chief and Managing EditorProfessor Dave Hill, Research Professor of Education at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, England

The Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS) and guest editors Debbie Sonu and Julie Gorlewski are seeking manuscripts for a special issue that is scheduled for publication in December 2015.

This special issue, entitled “Unheard Learners: Children and Youth Experiences in Neoliberal Schools,” aims to feature the work of established and emerging scholars from a variety of disciplines who explore school reform and schooling experiences from the standpoint of children and youth in public and private K-12 institutions from any socio-economic, cultural, or geographic location within the United States.  Continue reading CFP: Special issue of JCEPS – “Unheard Learners: Children and Youth Experiences in Neoliberal Schools”

Roundtable – Young Children’s Rights in Wales and England: What Next After the Election?

Young Children’s Rights in Wales and England: What Next After the Election?

Round table discussion

Wednesday 24 June 2.00-4.00 pm
Seminar room, Social Science Research Unit SSRU,
18 Woburn Square
UCL Institute of Education London WC1H ONR

Contributors to include:

  • Dr Jacky Tyrie
  • Sian Sarwar (Cardiff)
  • Prof Berry Mayall (London)
  • Chair: Prof Priscilla Alderson

The aim is to bring together professionals (academics, policy makers, advocates, educators, students, and third sector organisations) from England and Wales to discuss the present state of young children’s rights and look to future developments in research, policy and practice. Continue reading Roundtable – Young Children’s Rights in Wales and England: What Next After the Election?

CFP – 2nd Childhood Studies Colloquium “What does Childhood Studies mean for research, policy and practice?”

The 2nd Childhood Studies Colloquium will be held in Dunedin on 20th and 21st October 2015 on the theme What does Childhood Studies mean for research, policy and practice? 

Children and young people deal with a vast range of widening inequalities in their social and physical environments. Researchers from many disciplines, practitioners, policy makers and activists often work individually to improve the life of our young citizens. While children and young people’s economic, social, cultural and physical wellbeing lie at the heart of such efforts, debates continue about what working under the umbrella term of ‘Childhood Studies’ actually means theoretically and practically to address the pressing issues facing children and young people in the 21st century. Continue reading CFP – 2nd Childhood Studies Colloquium “What does Childhood Studies mean for research, policy and practice?”

Call for proposals for special issues: Children & Society 2017-18

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Call for proposals for special issues:
Children & Society 2017-18

Children & Society publishes one guest-edited Special Issue per volume. Children & Society’s editorial board welcomes proposals for Special Issues for 2017 and 2018 to be submitted to the Journal editors by September 1st for consideration at the autumn editorial board meeting. Continue reading Call for proposals for special issues: Children & Society 2017-18

May 19 Seminar: Adolescent girls’ migration and development in Ethiopia

Anthropology of Children and Youth Seminar

The seminar is on Tuesday 19 May 10.30-12.00, room Z-009 (Metropolitan), VU University, Amsterdam

Time to look at girls: Adolescent girls’ migration and development in Ethiopia

Marina de Regt, Assistant Professor in Anthropology, VU University Amsterdam

In the past decade an increasing number of Ethiopian girls have migrated from villages and rural towns to Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. In the literature the migration of adolescent girls is mainly described in the context of trafficking and exploitation. Little is known about the experiences, life choices and aspirations of these girls. This research project focuses on the life course and in particular on the way in which the decision to migrate intersects with other important choices, such as those related to education, marriage and having children. The research is part of a larger project which also includes studies in Bangladesh and Sudan. In Ethiopia data was collected among two groups of adolescent migrant girls in Addis Ababa, namely domestic workers and sex workers, and among parents and peers. Continue reading May 19 Seminar: Adolescent girls’ migration and development in Ethiopia

CFP: Children as objects of humanitarian intervention

CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
We seek participants for a session we are organizing for the AAA NGO and Nonprofit Interest Group conference “NGO-graphies” 17-18 November 2015 — just ahead of the AAA Annual Meeting — in Denver.

More info here: 

Session title:
Children as objects of humanitarian intervention: NGO industrialization and commodification of disadvantaged childhoods

Session organizers:
Kristen Cheney, International Institute of Social Studies (Children & Youth Studies)
Aviva Sinervo, San Francisco State University (Anthropology)

Theme Definition:
Within days of the April 25th Nepal earthquake, local and international child-focused NGOs were soliciting assistance for children in need, often focusing on children left orphaned by the earthquake. Though similar actions taken after the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti increased child trafficking and led to unnecessary institutionalization, NGOs continue to reify categories of “children in need” in order to raise funds for assistance – often endangering the very children they intend to help.

Humanitarian discourse and practice provide a good frame to examine how entire transnational charitable industries create and mobilize categorizations of disadvantaged childhoods to direct global resource flows. Yet this inquiry into the objectification of childhood must also consider the experiences of children themselves as they respond to, reject, embrace, or work within NGO narratives of their lives. This session will reflect on how NGOs’ targeting of children (re)creates particular types of vulnerable child identities and even creates demand for ‘savable’ children – perpetuating the need for services that cater to them. The consequences of such processes will be analyzed with regard to their effects on child recipients.

Structure/format:
Panelists will internally circulate short papers in advance according to critical questions of common interest from the session chairs. This will facilitate engagement amongst the panelists prior to the meeting (collaborative response). The session will also be flipped such that during the session each panelist will present a brief 5-10 minute overview of their paper, and then audience members will be invited to engage in a moderated discussion of the emergent themes in the papers.

Prospective Participants:
We seek participants covering a range of commodified ‘disadvantaged childhoods’ in a variety of geographical areas. If you are interested in participating, please send an email to cheney@iss.nl and asinervo@ucsc.edu by Wednesday 13 May identifying the ‘disadvantaged childhood’ category and geographic region you would like to discuss. Please provide a few lines on how your research addresses the theme definition above and how you would present that research within the given structure/format (max 200 words).