This collection of essays offers innovative methodological and disciplinary approaches to the intersection of Anglophone literary cultures with children and childhoods across the twentieth century. In two acts of re-centering, the volume focuses both on the multiplicity of childhoods and literary cultures and on child agency. Looking at classic texts for young audiences and at less widely-read and unpublished material (across genres including poetry, fiction, historical fiction or biography, picturebooks, and children's television), essays foreground the representation of child voices and subjectivities within texts, explore challenges to received notions of childhood, and emphasize the role of child-oriented texts in larger cultural and political projects. Chapters frame themes of spectacle, self, and specularity across the twentieth-century; question tropes of childhood; explore identity and displacement in narrating history and culture; and elevate children as makers of literary culture. A major intent of the volume is to approach literary culture not just as produced by adults for consumption by children but also as co-created by young people through their actions as speakers, artists, readers, and writers.

This collection defines the field of maternal studies in Australia for the first time. Leading motherhood researchers explore how mothering has evolved across Australian history as well as the joys and challenges of being a mother today. The contributors cover pregnancy, birth, relationships, childcare, domestic violence, time use, work, welfare, policy and psychology, from a diverse range of maternal perspectives. Utilising a matricentric feminist framework, Australian Mothering foregrounds the experiences, emotions and perspectives of mothers to better understand how Australian motherhood has developed historically and contemporaneously. Drawing upon their combined sociological and historical expertise, Bueskens and Pascoe Leahy have carefully curated a collection that presents compelling research on past and present perspectives on maternity in Australia, which will be relevant to researchers, advocates and policy makers interested in the changing role of mothers in Australian society.

The book approaches the topic of disability, inclusion and inclusive education in a holistic way including both academic and psycho-social perspectives. It also focuses on the contemporary status of disability studies with a multidisciplinary dimension. The experiences and challenges of children with disabilities and the different dimensions of inclusive education have been situated appropriately by including at the outset, a chapter on 'Disability Studies: The Context'. Chapter on 'Sociology of Disability' accentuates the tone and perspective of the presentations of the authors and editor. The research findings presented in the book indicate grounded realities and suggestions for transactional strategies which are plausible in the Indian context. It has never been timely to publish a book that helps professionals who work with schools, special education teachers, and counsellors to analyze disabilities from a socio-psychological perspective keeping the protagonist at the centre. Case narrations situated in the Indian context enrich the presentations giving voice to the marginalized children/adults with disabilities. This work serves as a comprehensive reference for the most prevalent disabilities at school education level covering the conceptual understanding about each disability, their psycho-social perspectives, implications for classroom transactions, suggestions of transactional strategies along with a brief explanation of assistive technology that can be used in case of each disability.With Right to Education Act (2009) in place, a diverse range of readers, from special educators and other teachers in schools, prospective teachers pursuing their pre service teacher education programmes, teacher educators and researchers in the field of disabilities and inclusive education will all find this volume useful, as a reference material with long shelf life.

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, we are grappling with the legacies of past centuries and their cascading effects upon children and all people. We realize anew how imperialism, globalization, industrialization, and revolution continue to reshape our world and that of new generations. At a volatile moment, this collection asks how twenty-first century literature and related media represent and shape the contemporary child, childhood, and youth. Because literary representations construct ideal childhoods as well as model the rights, privileges, and respect afforded to actual young people, this collection surveys examples from popular culture and from scholarly practice. Chapters investigate the human rights of children in literature and international policy; the potential subjective agency and power of the child; the role models proposed for young people; the diverse identities children embody and encounter; and the environmental well-being of future human and nonhuman generations. As a snapshot of our developing historical moment, this collection identifies emergent trends, considers theories and critiques of childhood and literature, and observes how new technologies and paradigms are destabilizing past conventions of storytelling and lived experience.

This book explores how students in China vary in their understanding of careers upon arrival at college and how these initial differences develop into distinctive career preparation pathways. Drawing on survey data, students' self-reflections, and semi-structured interviews over the four years, the book examines students' engagement in curricular and extracurricular activities, as well as their interactions with peers, faculty, and staff, and how this affects their ability to navigate, develop, and cultivate career prospects and relevant skills. It also considers how colleges may aggravate social inequality rather than equalize among students with divergent family backgrounds through cumulative advantage framework, impacting on their conceptualization and construction of careers. Addressing a key generation in a key market, this text will interest students, scholars and practitioners in sociology, social work, education, and public policy, career counselling, student affairs, human resources, and education policy.

This book examines childhood in four Caribbean SIDS (Barbados, Jamaica, Haiti and St. Lucia). Through the analysis of primary and secondary data, the author reveals that children in Caribbean SIDS experience an endangered childhood. The intrinsic characteristics of SIDs, including susceptibility to climate change, and high levels of poverty, indebtedness and inequality, Henry-Lee argues, increase the vulnerability of children. Furthermore, duty bearers are not adequately investing in children, private and public spaces are not child-friendly, and children's rights are violated daily. Endangered and Transformative Childhood in Caribbean Small Island Developing States shows that children are therefore at risk of being left behind in the fulfilment of the UN2030 Agenda and that the Convention of the Rights of the Child (1989) lacks enforceable sanctions. Unless a radical transformation of childhood takes place, the prosperity and viability of Caribbean SIDS will remain elusive for generations to come. Students, scholars and policy-makers with an interest in childhood studies, children's rights, and social policy will find this book a valuable read.

This book provides new insights on the lives of children in street situations by providing analyses from a qualitative perspective on the sociology of childhood. It proposes some insightful perspectives on the current discussion about the rights of children in street situations. It includes a unique selection of texts, which were initially published in French, written by the authors of this volume, on the lives of children in street situations in Latin America and China, that are now available to an English readership. It challenges obstacles, linked to macrosocial issues such as inequalities, images of the child, the separation of public/private spheres, urban dynamics and structural adjustments, as well as to microsocial dimensions such as identity, motivation, and activities that are constitutive of street situations. The book discusses the situations experienced by children, highlighting children's reflexivity and strategies as social factors, and shedding new light on the debate "agency within structure".

This book provides an in-depth understanding of how children's development at different stages of their lives interfaces with the kind of education and support they need at school and home. It examines closely how education, in turn, influences their development and prepares them for an uncertain future. The chapters focus on the rapid developments of the 21st century that are changing the nature of education, especially the shift needed to being able to sift through and meaningfully deal with overwhelming volumes of information now available. This book helps readers understand how children can benefit from the digital environment while avoiding its pitfalls. Keeping in mind that in today's world parents are getting to spend less time with their children, the authors provide research-backed ideas on how they can best enable children's development, including their thoughts, feelings and notions of self. Given the increasing disparities, there is a perceptive analysis of how education can build an awareness of equity in a context marked by diversity and disadvantage. This book addresses issues such as these in a reliable, scholarly yet accessible manner, for students, young researchers and lay readers. Consequently, it is a valuable source of fundamental insights and understanding for educators, policy-makers, educational administrators and students of human and child development, education, and teacher training courses.

600 million Indians, more than half the population, are under twenty-five. This generation lives between extremes: more connected and global than ever, but with narrow ideas of Indian identity; raised with the cultural values of their grandparents, but the life goals of American teenagers. These dreamers are the face of a new India. Angry, and frustrated with being marginalised by both globalisation and India's old politics, they place hope in the Modi government's exclusionary nationalism and, above all, in their personal truths: shape your own future; exploit, or be exploited. Journalist Snigdha Poonam tracks these young fortune-seekers -- aspiring Bollywood stars and clickbait gurus, the Cow Protection Army hoodlums and Allahabad University's first female Student Union President --all united by the belief that they were born for bigger and better things. Dreamers brings to life their boundless ambition and extraordinary imagination to create opportunities in the unlikeliest of spaces.

This book presents the method developed by Dr. Silvia Helena Koller and her students and collaborators to apply Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory of Human Development to empirical studies with children and adolescents. Although Bronfenbrenner's theory, in different stages of development, has been widely cited by several researchers, surprisingly little has been written about the theory itself, its evolution or about the methods that should be used to test it. This book fills this gap by presenting both an overview of Bronfenbrenner's theory and a method to apply it to empirical research, the Ecological Engagement method. The book also shows how this method can be applied in practice by bringing together a series of research reports of studies carried out in different regions of Brazil and in Angola that used the Ecological Engagement method to study children and adolescent development in different contexts, such as street situation, sexual exploitation, institutional reception, family reintegration, school and emergency and disasters, among others. Ecological Engagement - Urie Bronfenbrenner's Method to Study Human Development will be a valuable tool for psychologists and other social scientists interested in child and adolescent development looking for a solid an innovative methodology that allows researchers to directly interact with their research subjects in their own social contexts in order to fully understand their problems and issues. "The methodology of Ecological Engagement, that is explained and richly empirically illustrated in this book, is a singularly significant extension of [Urie Bronfenbrenner's] bioecological model. Indeed, in my view it is a brilliant empirical instantiation of the PPCT component of the model. (...) Ecological Engagement methodology is the scientific means through which Urie's legacy can be furthered." - Excerpt from the Foreword to the International Edition by Dr. Richard M. Lerner, director of the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University

This Handbook incorporates a variety of disciplines and approaches in order to provide a comprehensive and authoritative examination of the issues that result from increasing age diversity at work. Despite interest in this area exploding over the past few years amongst academics, practitioners and policy makers, the analysis of age diversity has remained primarily within disciplinary 'silos' such as Psychology or Sociology with a focus on ageing or generational differences, rather than a combination of approaches to understanding age diversity. Unique in its coverage of multiple perspectives, it considers not only generational and ageing perspectives to age diversity, but also highlights the importance of context in driving both the impact and response to this issue. The Palgrave Handbook of Age Diversity and Work includes contributions from leading scholars in age and generational diversity from across the world, discussing cutting-edge research findings about the nature and impact of age diversity and presenting approaches to managing this phenomenon.

This volume takes an international and multidisciplinary approach to understanding students' academic achievement. It does so by integrating educational literature with developmental psychology and family studies perspectives. Each of the nine chapters focuses on a particular country: China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, or the United States. It describes the country as a cultural context, examines the current school system and parenting in light of the school system, and provides empirical evidence from that country regarding links between parenting and students' academic achievement. The book highlights similarities and differences in education and parenting across these nine countries - all varying widely in socioeconomic and cultural factors that affect schools and families. The volume contributes to greater understanding of links between parenting and academic performance in different cultural groups. It sheds light on how school systems and parenting are embedded in larger cultural settings that have implications for students' educational experiences and academic achievement. As two of the most important contexts in which children and adolescents spend time, understanding how schools and families jointly contribute to academic achievement holds promise for advancing the international agenda of promoting quality education for all.

Drawing upon a diverse range of archival evidence, medical treatises, religious texts, public discourses, and legal documents, this book examines the rich historical context in which controversies surrounding the medical neglect of children erupted onto the American scene. It argues that several nineteenth-century developments collided to produce the first criminal prosecutions of parents who rejected medical attendance as a tenet of their religious faith. A view of children as distinct biological beings with particularized needs for physical care had engendered both the new medical practice field of pediatrics and a vigorous child welfare movement that forced legislatures and courts to reconsider public and private responsibility for ensuring children's physical well-being. At the same time, a number of healing religions had emerged to challenge the growing authority of medical doctors and the appropriate role of the state in the realm of child welfare. The rapid proliferation of the new healing churches, and the mixed outcomes of parents' criminal trials, reflected ongoing uneasiness about the increasing presence of science in American life.

This book illustrates the multifaceted applications of clinical psychology in multi-cultural contexts. It considers people's emotional, cognitive, interpersonal and psychological development across their lifespans. The book explores nine multicultural clinical cases that illustrate clinical assessment, biopsychosocial formulation, and evidence-based therapy. Further, it provides therapy outcomes for diverse clients throughout their lifespans, e.g. for cognitive behavioral therapy, integrative therapy, and narrative therapy; and examines clinical findings on e.g. social and emotional development, family trauma, child sexual abuse and its impact, as well as culturally sensitive assessment and interventions for a range of mental health issues. Further cases focus on co-morbid conditions, and physical ailments, across the lifespan.Bringing together contributions from both academics and practitioners, the book illustrates practical applications of theories and concepts relevant to the practice of clinical psychology. It also reviews the relevant literature with clinical recommendations, and provides multicultural perspectives and insights into contemporary clinical approaches from experienced clinical supervisors and practitioners, who are also academics and educators in the field. Accordingly, the book offers a valuable asset for students, academics, researchers and practitioners, as well as for postgraduate clinical training.

This book elaborates the need, in a rapidly urbanizing world, for recognition of the ecological communities we inhabit in cities and for the development of an ethics for all entities (human and non-human) in this context. Children and their entangled relations with the human and more-than-human world are located centrally to the research on cities in Bolivia and Kazakhstan, which investigates the future challenges of the Anthropocene. The author explores these relations by employing techniques of intra-action, diffraction and onto-ethnography in order to reveal the complexities of children's lives. These tools are supported by a theoretical framing that draws on posthumanist and new materialist literature. Through rich and complex stories of space-time-mattering in cities, this work connects children's voices with a host of others to address the question of what it means to be a child in the Anthropocene.

This book looks at the simultaneous processes of making and un-making of families that are part of the adoption practice. Whereas most studies on transnational adoption concentrate on the adoptive family, the author identifies not only the happy occasion when a family gains a child, but also the sorrow and loss of the child to its family of origin. Situating transnational adoption in the context of the Global North-South divide, Hogbacka investigates the devastating effects of unequal life chances and asymmetrical power relations on the adoption process and on the mothers whose children are adopted. Based on unique primary material gathered in in-depth interviews with South African families of origin and Finnish adoptive families, the book investigates the decision-making processes of both sets of parents and the encounters between them. The first mothers' narratives are juxtaposed with those of the adopters and of the adoption social workers who act on the principles of the wider adoption system. Concluding with a critique of the Global Northism that exemplifies current practices, Hogbacka sketches the contours of a more just approach to transnational adoption that would shatter rather than perpetuate inequality. The book can also be read as an expose of the consequences of current inequalities for poor families. Global Families, Inequality and Transnational Adoption will be of interest to students and scholars of adoption studies, family and kinship, sociology, anthropology, social work and development.

This book addresses how best to meet everyday challenges. The author focuses on how to think and act differently about what we do as we face challenges, and how to assess each situation as one of challenge rather than threat or harm because we have the strategies to cope. Spanning eleven chapters, the book examines the best ways to provide the core skills for life, to children, adolescents and adults, and how that is best achieved through the contemporary theories of coping. Coping has traditionally been defined in terms of reaction; that is, how people respond after or during a stressful event. More recently, coping is being defined more broadly to include anticipatory, preventive and proactive coping. This book provides case studies of resilient adults in a range of settings, highlighting how coping resources have helped them to overcome adversity. Researchers, students of psychology and social work, practitioners and those interested in the self-help field will find this book invaluable.

This critical account of the American Girl brand explores what its books and dolls communicate to girls about femininity, racial identity, ethnicity, and what it means to be an American. Emilie Zaslow begins by tracing the development of American Girl and situates the company's growth and popularity in a social history of girl power media culture. She then weaves analyses of the collection's narrative and material representations with qualitative research on mothers and girls. Examining the dolls with both a critical eye and a fan's curiosity, Zaslow raises questions about the values espoused by this iconic American brand.

This edited volume provides a critical account of the theories and policies that have informed work in the field of early childhood and explores how they have operated in practice. Underpinning the theoretical debates are the familiar tensions between global norms and local contexts; increasing inequality alongside economic progress, and the increasing prominence of business and the private sector in delivering aid programs. The authors offer a profound critique on an increasingly important topic and discuss alternative models of policy and practice.

Focusing on children's citizenship, participation and rights, this edited collection draws on the work of a number of leading scholars in the sociology of childhood. The contributors explore a range of themes including: tensions between pragmatism and grand theory; revisiting agency/structure debates in the light of children; the challenging of binary thought prevalent in studies around 'generations' and other aspects of sociology; the manifestation of power in time and space; the application of theories into the 'real' world through NGOs, practitioners, policy makers, politicians and empirical research. The collection will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including childhood studies, sociology, politics and social policy, as well as policy makers and practitioners interested in the citizenship, rights and participation of children.

There have long been doubts within social work about the viability of reconciling participatory practice with the statutory power that comes hand-in-hand with child protection work. This book explores this issue by proposing an original theory of children's participation within statutory child protection interventions. It prioritises children's voices through presentation of a wide collection of children's experiences of the child protection system including three unique in-depth accounts. Identifying the different ways in which children engage with professionals in the child protection process, Duncan explores why they act in the ways that they do. The book reveals why some children are sceptical participants or become disaffected with the system whilst others participate more positively within it. Participation in Child Protection will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including social work, sociology, psychology, counselling, law and education, as well as child protection professionals such as social workers, child protection police officers, health visitors and teachers.

This book is centered on the history of the girl from the medieval period through to the early twenty-first century. Authored by an international team of scholars, the volume explores the transition from adolescent girlhood to young womanhood, the formation and education of girls in the home and in school, and paid work undertaken by girls in different parts of the world and at different times. It highlights the value of a comparative approach to the history of the girl, as the contributors point to shared attitudes to girlhood and the similarity of the experiences of girls in workplaces across the world. Contributions to the volume also emphasise the central role of girls in the global economy, from their participation in the textile industry in the eighteenth century, through to the migration of girls to urban centres in twentieth-century Africa and China.

This book studies young people's use of psychoactive drugs and its social and psychological correlates in Hong Kong. Specifically, it focuses on how life satisfaction may affect drug use among a sample of psychoactive drug users in Hong Kong. The book addresses the dearth of research on the role of young people's life satisfaction in their drug abuse and engagement in other risk behaviors in Hong Kong. It also examines how changes in the drug scene from heroin addiction to psychoactive party drug use since the late 1990s has necessitated a deeper exploration of the subculture of young people, which shapes their attitudes and behaviors regarding how they structure their lives and how they perceive the risks of drug use, in the context of the global trend of normalization of recreational drug use. Readers will benefit from the results of a rigorous analysis of a unique set of longitudinal data that reveals the factors influencing drug use among young psychoactive drug users, academic implications of the findings for social science theory and research on young people's drug use, and practical implications of the findings for prevention and intervention services for young people in Hong Kong and other Asian societies.

Do people make friends with those who are culturally and socially different to themselves? Friendship and Diversity explores the social relationships of adults and children living in highly diverse localities in London. The authors examine how social class and ethnic difference affects the friendships of children in primary schools and their parents. The book draws on original and in-depth conversations 8 and 9 year olds about their classroom relationships, with parents about their own and their children's friendships, and with teachers about supporting children's friendships at school. Through detailed discussions of friendships, everyday multiculture, and attitudes towards shared social space, cultural difference and social class, the authors reveal what these friendships tell us about the nature and extent of social mixing and social divisions in cities with diverse populations. Friendship and Diversity will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, geography and psychology, as well as education practitioners.

This edited volume examines child exploitation in the Global South. It introduces several case studies and interviews articulated around two features: exploitation within the family and exploitation in relation to social contexts. The research shows that both of the features are linked and, generally, they are not separate. It makes several important arguments which challenge the most common view on how children are perceived and exploited in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Additionally, it explores the social representation of exploited children as well as their general well-being.