The Child in Question: Childhood Texts, Cultures, and Curricula

The meaning of childhood is constantly being negotiated, and this book explores how and why it matters that childhood, as a concept and experience, remains as multiple and elusive as ever. The child in question is a unifying theme that emerges from an assertion that childhood has boundaries far more elastic than can be held by the familiar notion of the innocent child developing toward a heteronormative future.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 126 pages
Publication date: 25 September 2023
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The concept of childhood is a familiar one, often taken for granted as universal. However, the meaning of childhood is constantly being negotiated, not only by the imaginations of adults but also by nations, markets, history, and children themselves. Despite the widespread attention given to this question, the contributions in this book serve as a reminder that children are active, embodied, and inquisitive agents engaged in constructing their relationship with the world they inherit.

The unifying theme of this book, "The Child in Question," emerges from the assertion that childhood has boundaries that are far more elastic than commonly perceived. The title pays homage to sociologist Diana Gittins, who, over two decades ago, posed the question of how the shifting meanings of children and childhood impact the lives of children. The chapters in this book explore contemporary educational policy and practice, curriculum material, literary and visual representations, and teacher narratives to delve deeper into how and why it matters that childhood, as a concept and experience, remains as multifaceted and elusive as ever.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Curriculum Inquiry.

Weight: 453g
Dimension: 246 x 174 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780367534035