Children in the Global South continue to be affected by social disadvantage in our unequal post-colonial world order. With a focus on working-class children in Latin America, this book explores the challenges of promoting children’s rights in a context of decolonization. Liebel and colleagues give insights into the political lives of children and demonstrate ways in which the concept of children’s rights can be made meaningful at the grassroots level. Looking to the future, they consider how collaborative research with children can counteract their marginalization and oppression in society.

A pioneer of childhood studies, Liebel uses a broad array of international case studies to examine the repercussions of colonial conquest on children’s lives and childhood policies today. Looking at how children in the Global South are affected by unequal power relations, paternalistic policies and violence by state and nonstate actors, he shows how we can work to decolonize childhoods and ensure that children’s rights are better promoted and protected.

Children in the Global South continue to be affected by social disadvantage in our unequal post-colonial world order. With a focus on working-class children in Latin America, this book explores the challenges of promoting children’s rights in a context of decolonization. Liebel and colleagues give insights into the political lives of children and demonstrate ways in which the concept of children’s rights can be made meaningful at the grassroots level. Looking to the future, they consider how collaborative research with children can counteract their marginalization and oppression in society.

A pioneer of childhood studies, Liebel uses a broad array of international case studies to examine the repercussions of colonial conquest on children’s lives and childhood policies today. Looking at how children in the Global South are affected by unequal power relations, paternalistic policies and violence by state and nonstate actors, he shows how we can work to decolonize childhoods and ensure that children’s rights are better promoted and protected.

Children's work is on the increase in all parts of the world, including the affluent countries of Europe and North America, and is closely linked with the processes of globalization. It can take on widely differing forms and can harm children, but also benefit them. This book's approach is distinctive: it endeavors to understand working children, and their ways of living and acting, from their own perspective. It is interested in the children's own experiences and hopes, especially their attempts to speak out in public and to fight together against exploitation and discrimination. It shows that children frequently see and evaluate their work differently from adults, and that measures directed against children's work are not always in the interests of the children. It argues for a new, subject-oriented approach in dealing with children's work, which takes account of socio-cultural contexts, both in theory and practice.