Paper Submission
Deadlines | Abstract Submission | Registration | Graduate Student Paper AwardABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS NOW CLOSED.
We invite submissions for participation in a conference hosted by the Department of Childhood Studies of Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey, USA on Multiple Childhoods/Multidisciplinary Perspectives. As a field, childhood studies has flourished in large part because scholars have recognized the necessity of moving between and beyond traditional academic disciplines and have resisted the idea that there exists one, normative version of childhood common to all. Indeed, Multiple Childhoods/Multidisciplinary Perspectives seeks participation from those who work to counter the presumption or invocation of an unproblematically normative childhood by making visible how varied material and institutional circumstances, ideologies, beliefs and daily practices serve to shape the unfolding lives and experiences of children.
In this spirit, participants are encouraged to interrogate practices and discourses surrounding childhood and childhood studies, asking, for instance: What forms do childhoods take in various social arrangements? How do the dynamics of social class, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation and religion configure notions of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” childhoods? How do children understand various kinds of social difference and inequalities? What about the understandings of researchers, and those who care for or otherwise attend to children? In what ways do conceptualizations of “the child” and of presumed normative childhoods—in research, in the commercial world, in institutional and everyday settings, in literature and discourse—inform the kinds of actions undertaken by and on behalf of children?
Papers may be on any topic or subject that takes children and youth as a central theme and addresses ideas or invocations of normative childhood(s). Examples include, but are not limited to:
- racialized, ethnic, gender and class positionings/identities and the valuation of particular childhoods as “good,” “bad” or “different”
- socially and economically disadvantaged childhoods in Global South as well as Global North contexts
- queer/sexually questioning children and youth
- children (and their families) facing physical, developmental and/or emotional challenges and disabilities
- children’s rights and forms of public and civic participation
- historical assumptions about normative versions of children and childhoods
- representations of children, youth and childhoods in literature, history, popular discourse and popular culture (political and commercial speech, advertising, film and television)
- the various childhoods emergent through consumer-media culture
- conceptualizations of normative/non-normative childhoods as codified in law, policy, governance and schools
- methodological and theoretical interventions addressing multiple childhoods
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Abstract Submission
*Abstract submission deadline is November 30, 2010. All abstracts are to be sent to childhoodsconference@camden.rutgers.edu- Separate cover sheet with: title, name and affiliation (s) of authors, include email and phone number of contact person (first author)
- Abstract of 250-300 words that discusses the problem, research, methods and relevance. Use MS Word document.
- Note: DO NOT put identifying information in the body of the abstract; only on cover sheet
- Roundtables: A limited number of roundtables will be accepted. Include a rationale for the roundtable and abstracts from all presenters. No more than 4 presenters and chair. If the Committee does not accept the roundtable, please indicate which (if any) proposed papers you want to be considered individually.
- We encourage presenters to think of ways to incorporate children’s non-trivial (i.e.. non-token) participation in sessions and roundtables. Send us your thoughts.
Registration
Registration fee includes two receptions and two lunches.- Early (Before March 31): $35 USD
Required for ALL Presenters - Regular (After March 31): $45 USD
Graduate Student Paper Award
A cash award (to be determined) will be given for the best Graduate Student Paper as determine by the Conference Committee. To be eligible, you must send a full paper (no more than 25 pages total) by April 15, 2011 to childhoodsconference@camden.rutgers.edu. The award will be presented at the conference.