Job Postings

Limited Term Appointment

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The Childhood and Social Institutions Program at Kings University College at
Western University in Ontario, Canada invites applications for a 1-year
limited-term appointment.

Information about the College and the Program are available at
http://www.kings.uwo.ca/academics/interdisciplinary-programs/childhood-and-s
ocial-institutions/

The main responsibility of the appointment is teaching a 3-3 load in the
historical, cultural, and social study of childhood.  The Program has a
particular need in the area of childhood, discourse, and representation.

To apply please send a letter of interest and a c.v. to:

Dr. Alan Pomfret

CSI Program Coordinator

Pomfret@uwo.ca

Inquiries to the same.

Resources

Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 23, No. 3, 2013 is now available online

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The new issue of the Children, Youth and Environments Journal includes nine articles from the U.S.A., Canada, Sweden, and Turkey on various topics, including travel to school, outdoor play, sense of place, perceptions of neighborhood safety, and use of urban parks and nature.

See below for the detailed table of contents.  The issue is available at:  http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=chilyoutenvi

You will find access and subscription information on:  http://www.colorado.edu/cye/cye-journal/subscription-information

Please, share this announcement with appropriate professional networks, listservs, and interested others.

Louise Chawla

Fahriye Sancar

Willem van Vliet–

Editors

Children, Youth and Environments

A Journal of Research, Policy and Applications

University of Colorado

Calls for Papers: Conferences

CFP: Seeking Panels for Sponsorship by the Childhood and Youth Studies Caucus, American Studies Association

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Call for Panels: Sponsorship by the Childhood and Youth Studies Caucus of the ASA

The Childhood and Youth Studies Caucus of the American Studies Association invites submissions of childhood-and-youth-themed panels for consideration. The caucus will select two panels for sponsorship.

In 2014, the ASA meets in Los Angeles, CA, from November 6-9. The theme title is “The Fun and the Fury: Dialectics of Pleasure and Pain in the Post-American Century.” (Read the entire description of the meeting
theme here: http://www.theasa.net/annual_meeting/page/submit_a_proposal/)

There is much in this theme that resonates with childhood and youth studies. A few possible approaches to explore:

-Discipline, rebellion, and agency
-Youth, athletics, money, and work
-Games, hobbies, and productivity
-“Edutainment,” consumption, and learning
-Images and visions of idyllic and threatened childhoods, and their interplay

If you would like your panel to be considered for caucus sponsorship, please submit your proposal—a panel abstract, abstracts for each paper, and short bios for each participant, including the chair/commentator—by January 16. Send your materials to Rebecca Onion (rebeccaonion@gmail.com) and Nicholas Syrett (nicholas.syrett@unco.edu).

The ASA’s submission deadline is January 26. We will let you know well before the deadline whether your panel has been chosen for sponsorship, so that selected panels can append that information to their application. You will be responsible for submitting your panel proposal to the ASA.

Please contact Rebecca Onion (rebeccaonion@gmail.com) or Nicholas Syrett (nicholas.syrett@unco.edu) with questions.

Funding Opportunities, Training/Education

TWO Funded PhD opportunities at University of Hull, UK

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Caring Children in Malawi & East Yorkshire – Children’s Work within Families affected by Illness and Disability 

This PhD studentship is an opportunity to explore across connected communities, the care-giving work children undertake for family members (parents, siblings, grandparents, other adult relatives) with differing needs for care based on chronic illness (especially HIV), associated disability/impairment, young and old age.

This studentship will investigate the outcomes of caregiving by children in the Global North and South across rural and urban locales with respect to young caregivers’ education, health, well-being and aspiration. Sharing lessons North-South and South-North through connecting stakeholder partners in Hull, East Yorkshire and Malawi in Southern Africa, the study will inform policies and interventions to support families affected by illness/disability.

This study offers a valuable opportunity to extend ongoing inter-disciplinary research by human geographers and other social scientists. Informed by a ‘new social studies of childhood’ perspective and using a qualitative, participatory methodology the project aims to explore outcomes of caregiving by children for their education, physical and emotional wellbeing and aspirations.

A key objective is to identify policies and practices to support families with care needs. This will be achieved through engagement with and connecting organisations supporting young caregivers in Southern Malawi and Hull/East Riding in order to undertake fieldwork (funding available) and develop policy recommendations. Interested applicants should have relevant degree (min 2:1) or Masters in sociology, human geography, social work or related discipline

To discuss informally how you might develop this doctoral research please contact Dr Elsbeth Robson <mailto:E.Robson@hull.ac.uk> 10, Department of Geography, Environment and Earth Science.


In order to qualify for this scholarship you will require at least a 2.1, but preferably a Masters degree, in a relevant subject.
Full-time UK/EU PhD Scholarship will include fees at the‘home/EU’ student rate and maintenance (£13,726 in 2014/15) for three years, depending on satisfactory progress. Full-time International Fee PhD Studentships will include full fees at the International student rate for three years, dependent on satisfactory progress.
PhD students at the University of Hull follow modules for research and transferable skills development and gain a Masters level Certificate, or Diploma, in Research Training, in addition to their research degree.
Closing date: – 3rd February 2014.

For details of how to apply please visit the 2014 PhD Studentships web pages <http://www2.hull.ac.uk/student/graduateschool/phdscholarships.aspx#ConnectedCommunities>  http://www2.hull.ac.uk/researchandinnovation/connectedcommunities/phdscholarships/caringchildren.aspx

Calls for Papers: Publishing

CFP – Special Issue of *Jeunesse* on Consumption

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Call for Papers
Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures
Special Issue on Consumption

Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures invites essay submissions for a special issue addressing the many interpretations of consumption and their meanings 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.

Consumption is a vehicle through which we come to understand proprietary relationships with people, places, bodies, and identities. If food is the primary signifier when we think of consumption, how might we read metaphoric consumption (of capital, culture, and place, for instance) in light of notions of necessity and survival?

Submissions of articles, which should include abstracts, are requested by: 15 December 2013.

Topics may include:

– representations of food or the ingestion of food and drink
– eating disorders, the stigma of obesity, and fatphobia
– pedagogy of health
– consumption as disease (ie. tuberculosis)
– obsession or fixation
– symbolic acts of devouring/being devoured
– cannibalism or consuming the self (eg. vampires, fairy tales)
– consumption, purchasing, ownership, and material culture
– discourses of consumption (good/bad consumers)
– young people as consumers, advertising for or about young people
– cultural consumerism/tourism

Inquiries may be directed to Larissa Wodtke, Managing Editor:
l.wodtke@uwinnipeg.ca

Further information about submission guidelines is available at:
http://jeunessejournal.ca

To download a PDF of the CFP:
http://crytc.uwinnipeg.ca/pdf/Jeunesse_Special_Issue_Consumption_CFP.pdf

New Books

New book: A History of the Sociology of Childhood

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http://ioe-us.styluspub.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=364461

A History of the Sociology of Childhood

Berry Mayall

Paper: 978 1 78277 021 3
Price:  $18.95
Published: November 2013

Publisher: IOE Press  <http://ioe-us.styluspub.com/default.aspx>
64 pp., 6 1/8″ x 9 1/5″

This concise book gives a history of how the sociology of childhood has
developed, contextualized in the history of sociology. It draws on the
authorąs own experiences, considers a wide range of published documents and
includes contributions on specific topics by some of the main players in the
field: Jens Qvortrup, Priscilla Alderson, Liesbeth de Block and Virginia
Morrow.

A History of the Sociology of Childhood describes how this relatively new
discipline evolved and considers its principal propositions. It looks back
to the post-war period, notably in the US, and shows how sociological ideas
about childhood arose from developmental psychology; how they began to be
formulated to act in complement to psychological ideas and how some US
psychologists began to explore variations in ideas about childhood in
varying societies. It also explores the history of sociological ideas about
childhood in both the UK and, most importantly, mainstream Europe and
considers links between sociological and rights agendas. This book concludes
with consideration of the latest developments in this field such as
globalization and media studies; work in other languages, such as French and
Portuguese and gives an account of work emerging in the majority world and
its relevance for theoretical developments.

It is essential reading for university students on all varieties of
childhood courses. It contextualizes this field
within theory and provides a clear picture of the constituents of the
discipline. It is also relevant to those working within psychological
paradigms but with an interest in considering alternative and complementary
approaches.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Section 1. The importance of developmental psychology in shaping childhoods
Section 2. Precursors of sociological approaches to childhood ­ especially
in the USA
Section 3. Sociological approaches to childhood in the UK ­ early days
Section 4. Childhood sociology in (other) north European countries
Section 5. Current UK work on the sociology of childhood
Section 6. Other recent developments
Concluding discussion
References

Teachers – Request Exam Copy
<http://www.styluspub.com/orders/examrequest.aspx?ProductID=364461>

Reviews & Endorsements:
“Berry Mayalląs history of the sociology of childhood offers succinct and
enlightening insights on the flow, movement, and interaction of ideas that
have combined to form this still-growing field of  scholarship. It is a
resource for students and scholars alike interested in the study of children
and their childhoods.”
– Daniel Thomas Cook, Co-editor, Childhood: A Journal of Global Child
Research and Professor , Rutgers University

łA Śmust-readą for any serious scholar engaging with childhood studies.˛
– Jo Moran-Ellis , University of Surrey

Events, Training/Education

Childhood, rights, research ethics and critical realism: New ways to research childhood

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Three seminars with Priscilla Alderson, Professor Emerita of Childhood Studies, Institute of Education

Each session will briefly outline main ideas in critical realism. Then we will review how they can apply to research about childhood, and children’s rights, and research ethics. Please bring ideas and questions from your reading and research.  

Childhood and critical realism

Tuesday 21st January 2014, 5.30-7.30, Room 736, IOE, 20 Bedford Way, London

Critical realism examines the basic living reality (being) of children, and how that differs from ways in which children are perceived and understood (knowing). Another critical realist theme is the four planes of social being: bodies and nature; interpersonal relations; social structures; and the good life. How can all four planes inform research with children? Can methods in natural science apply to social science?

Children’s rights, citizenship and critical realism 

Tuesday 25th February, 5.30-7.30, Room 736, IOE, 20 Bedford Way, London

Do universal rights really exist, or are rights simply local ideas that vary in time and place? When do ‘human’ rights begin in life? Do they gradually develop up towards adulthood, or can babies have human rights and be citizens? How can critical realist concepts of being and knowing, and of the four planes of social being, inform research about rights and citizenship?  

Research ethics and critical realism

Thursday 13th March, 5.30-7.30, Room 736, IOE, 20 Bedford Way, London

Are justice, respect and avoiding harm universal concepts, or are they simply local ideas that vary in time and place? How can critical realist concepts of being and knowing, and of the four planes of social being, inform research ethics and how they are applied? How do ethics in natural science and in social science research overlap or differ?

Although the seminars are planned for MA students, others are very welcome to attend one or more sessions. For those wanting more advanced sessions on critical realism, these are held by Professor Roy Bhaskar at the Institute of Education on alternate Monday evenings.

Power point files and background reading will be sent out before the sessions, and the format will mainly be discussion. If you would like to know more before you decide whether to attend, the main themes are set out in Priscilla Alderson’s book Childhoods Real and Imagined: An Introduction to Critical Realism and Childhood Studies (Routledge 2013) Chapters 1-3, IOE library Ral Bad ALD.

To register and for more information contact Rachel Rosen: r.rosen@ioe.ac.uk.

 

Calls for Papers: Publishing

CFP: Representations of Childhood in Comics

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Childhood is now widely recognized as a social construct (Fass, Jenks, Mintz). As the artifice behind the construction of childhood has been revealed, there has been a marked increase in the analysis of children and childhood in contemporary culture (Demarr and Bakermann, Edelman, Latham, McLennan, Renner, Stockton). Despite the increase in scholarly attention, depictions of childhood in comics and other forms of comic art are ripe for further study. The forthcoming issue of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, focusing on comics, picturebooks, and childhood, should provide interesting insights into these depictions. Yet there remains plenty of room for consideration regarding how different comics construct childhood. This is an especially interesting area of inquiry given the somewhat vexed association comic books have traditionally maintained with childhood. In an attempt to continue developing the scholarly focus on childhood, as well as comics, we seek proposals for scholarly articles that analyze, explore and interrogate depictions of childhood in comics or comic art for inclusion in a book-length anthology.

We welcome all proposals, although, based on responses so far, we are particularly interested in more submissions regarding depictions of childhood in comics aimed at adults.

Potential topics include:

What do comics teach us about current constructions of childhood?

How do comics resist or undermine contemporary constructions of childhood?

How can comics help us better understand the role of children in a given societal context?

How do comics shed light on the relationship between children and adults? Between adults and their own childhood?

How can depictions of childhood be understood as metaphors for specific cultural phenomena, values, disruptions or evolutions?

What anxieties regarding culture, politics, education, etc. do comics reveal?

How have ideas regarding childhood affected comics?

Please submit an abstract of 300 words and a short CV to Mark Heimermann, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Brittany Tullis, St. Ambrose University, at heimermanntullis@gmail.com by January 1st, 2014 for consideration. Full papers will be due by June 1st, 2014.