Critical Childhood Studies and the Practice of Interdisciplinarity - (Children and Youth in Popular Culture) by Joanne Faulkner & Magdalena Zolkos

About the Book

This book analyzes figurations of childhood in contemporary culture and politics focusing on critical childhood studies. Looking at critical discussions of the ideological, symbolic and affective roles that children play in contemporary societies suggest that they are often th...

Book Synopsis

This book analyzes figurations of childhood in contemporary culture and politics focusing on critical childhood studies. Looking at critical discussions of the ideological, symbolic and affective roles that children play in contemporary societies suggest that they are often the locus of larger societal crises, and unspoken prohibitions and taboos.

Review Quotes

Critical Childhood Studies and the Practice of Interdisciplinarity is a welcome contribution to childhood studies scholarship, particularlybecause of its explicit embrace of the field's diverse epistemological practicesand commitments. Its wide-reaching scope attests to the importance of childrenand childhood across multiple disciplines, and each chapter's extensivebibliography represents a network of connected resources to facilitate andanchor ongoing critical engagement from readers. The book's central promiseto explore the notion of disciplinarity itself surfaces across individual contributions, and the book may find especially relevant application within thechildhood studies classroom.

The growth of children's studies and the clustering of disciplinary interests that underpin that growth are well served by this excellent and rigorously edited volume. As a scholar of film, politics and childhood, I found all the contributions relevant and insightful. Childhood and children collectively offer a profound challenge to academic knowledge, and these authors grasp it bravely.

With the increasing interest in child/childhood studies, the scholars in this edited collection brought together by Faulkner and Zolkos will no doubt make an invaluable contribution to the field. With its critical interdisciplinary edge to theory and method, the book challenges taken-for-granted understandings of the child/childhood, highlights the exclusionary practices that have marginalized children and their contributions to society and knowledge-making, and points out the various ways in which the child/childhood have been utilized to maintain broader relations of power in cultures and broader society.

About the Author

Joanne Faulkner lectures in philosophy and women's and gender studies at the University of New South Wales.
Magdalena Zolkos is senior research fellow at the Institute for Social Justice, Australian Catholic University.