Children and childhoods
Short description
The focus of the research in Childhoods is on the conditions and rights of children inside and outside social institutions in local as well as global contexts. At a general level, the research conducted deals with issues of how childhood is construed discursively, materially, spatially and in social interaction.
About the research theme
The focus of the research in Children and Childhoods (CHILDHOODS) is on the conditions and rights of children inside and outside social institutions in local as well as global contexts. At a general level, the research conducted deals with issues of how childhood is construed discursively, materially, spatially and in social interaction. A central analytical focus is the interest in children’s meaning-making, rights and possibilities to exert agency in different activities. This includes an interest in how children themselves contribute to the construction of childhoods. The different projects address issues of children as citizens, leisure time activities and cultural expressions, childhood and the Internet, children in precarious circumstances as well as children and migration, and childhoods in a globalised world. In the research projects, the ambition is to include the perspectives on sustainable development that concern children and childhood articulated in Agenda 2030.
International collaboration
The international partners include Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), Indonesia, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, Monash University, Australia, Roskilde University, Denmark, University of Auckland, New Zealand and University of Liverpool, UK. We participate in several international research associations including OMEP, EECERA, ECER, AERA samt ReECEC.
Colloquia and seminar
In Childhoods there are two colloquia and one seminar:
Colloquium of Children and childhood sociology
The colloquium serves as a forum for discussing children and childhoods inside and outside educational institutions. The focus is on the life-worlds and every day activities, learning, development and upbringing of children with an emphasis on children between the ages of six and twelve. A special focus is on the activities organized in preschool class and in leisure-home centres and the implications for development of children. These are central areas for research, teacher training and the teaching profession. The colloquium is led by senior lecturer Live Stretmo and senior lecturer Catarina Andishmand.
Global Childhoods colloquium
This colloquium is devoted to developing knowledge of how conceptions of children, childhoods and identities of children change over time and through globalization, and how such changes are expressed by children, in families and among pedagogues inside and outside educational institutions. The ambition is to develop insights into how childhoods are construed in contemporary society as well as how they have been construed through history. The colloquium is led by associate professor Anette Hellman and doctoral student Natalie Davet
Global Childhoods seminar
The seminar is the research community of this theme and includes researchers and Ph. D. students with an interest in global perspectives on children and childhood. The seminar work includes analyses of literature, discussions of manuscripts written by the members of this theme and writing of research grant applications. The seminar is led by associate professor Anette Hellman, senior lecturer Annika Åkerblom and fil. lic. Natalie Davet.