Welcome to CHST1000B: Childhood in the Global

Instructor
Jack Hicks
jack.hicks@carleton.ca
Please note: ALL e-mails between
students and myself (and the
Teaching Assistants) MUST be to/from
Carleton e-mail accounts
Office Hours:
Dunton Tower room 1314/1315
Thursdays 16:00 to 17:00

Teaching Assistants
Role of TAs
1. Facilitate Discussion Groups
2. Grading assignments and exams

Our TAs
Hannah Miller-Selzer
Tabetha Meikle

Students
From Ottawa, other places in Ontario,
elsewhere in Canada, international
students?
What department/major?
Different backgrounds, different life
experiences, and different
perspectives and attitudes
Have kids?

Questions
Where did you grow up?
Tell me something about your
childhood
Where have you travelled?
Tell me a story from your travels
What is a child?
What is childhood?

Course Goals & Description

1
To learn about childhood from a historical,
global and interdisciplinary perspective
This course will include the following
topics:
Introduction to childhood and global issues
related to childrens wellbeing
Historical perspectives of childhood, and its
social constructions over time and place
Factors impacting on childhood development
Indigenous children

Course Goals & Description

2
This course will include the following
topics (cntd):
Children in war zones
The political economy of the health of
children
The impact of austerity policies and
environmental change on children

Course Goals & Description

3
Introduce students to the complexity
of issues concerning children
Challenge common ideas and
concepts about childhood
Explore specific topics as they effect
children
Foster an interest in the study of
childhood from an interdisciplinary
perspective

What Will I Learn?

The study of children is complex, and
cannot be fully addressed by a single
disciplinary approach
Many influences determine childrens
life opportunities and well-being
Early childhood experiences have a
huge impact on a persons life
In the end, you will learn to think more
critically about issues concerning
children

What Is Expected Of Me?

Read messages sent out via cuLearn

Class attendance 12 lectures
Completion of readings before class
Class participation
Attendance at and participation in
Discussion Groups
Completion of assignments by their
due dates
In-class final exam

What Is My Textbook?
Theres no textbook as such
The coursepack of readings will be
available at Haven Books -- 43
Seneca St., at Sunnyside
+ other assigned readings
+ In-class videos

Important Dates
Assignments due: Jan. 14, Jan. 28
and Feb. 25
Last day to withdraw from fall term
courses without academic penalty:
Apr. 8
In-class final exam: to be scheduled
during the examination period from
Apr. 8

The First Month

Buy your coursepack of readings
Jan. 14: What is childhood? What is a
child? Global issues concerning children;
Universal characteristics of children
Assignment 1 issued

Jan. 21: Adverse childhood experiences

and their impact over the life course
Jan. 28: Poverty and social inequality
Assignment 1 due

Classroom Code Of Conduct

Show up on time
If you know you have to leave early,
please sit close to a door
Laptops allowed, but no headphones
Slides will be posted to cuLearn
before class
Please feel free to interrupt and ask
questions!

Questions (from last class)

Where did you grow up?
Tell me something about your
childhood
Where have you travelled?
Tell me a story from your travels
What is a child?
What is childhood?

Reflections on Questions
Biological parents still together / Single
parents/ Blended families / more challenging
situations
Big-city Canada / Small-town Canada (I find
that the world looks better in a small town.) /
Grew up partly overseas / Grew up overseas
and moved to Canada as an adult
Some have travelled extensively / other not
so much, or only in Canada/US
Lots of life yet to live, many places yet to
see!

Reflections on Questions
The most beautiful days of human
life.
Many mentioned age ranges and the
need for adult protection; I am a
child
Were all children in our parents
eyes.

Childhood in time and place

Social constructionism is concerned with:
1. Facts
2. Ideas

Some social constructionists argue that

there are no universal facts about
children
1. True
2. False

Childhood in time and place

Social constructionists argue that the
way we think about children is
influenced by:

Income
Gender
Ethnicity
Political systems
Educational systems
Family values

Discourses of childhood
Discourse is the word used by social
constructionists to describe a set of
ideas that reflect an ideology or
value system
These ideas reflect socio-political and
historical context
These set of ideas influences
outcomes of child development

Discourses of childhood
Change with changes in time and
place
Children as well as adults have ideas
on what childhood is
Discourse of childhood may be
different for children and adults from
the same family

When does childhood

begin?
Why is it an important question?
Determines when to assign value to life
of children
Determines practices and rituals
Determines ethical principles at the
societal level (e.g., abortion)

When does childhood

begin?
Examples of when childhood begins
according to different social constructions of
childhood:
Catholic/Christian groups: Life begins at conception
Islam: Life begins when the soul enters the body (40
days after conception)
UK Law: Life begins at birth
China/Vietnam: Life begins when a child is assigned a
name
Twins: are not human because humans, unlike animals,
have one child at the time; selective infanticide in some
Brazilian and African cultures
Japan: children are an extension of their mothers life

Philippe Aris
French historian
Pioneer of the idea of childhood as a social
construction (Centuries of Childhood, 1962)
Analyzed paintings to extrapolate social
constructions of childhood
Children were depicted as small adults until the
1500s
Until then children not seen as different from
adults
Because of high infant mortality of the Middle
Ages adults were indifferent to children until they
reached the age of 7

Giotto, Ognissanti
Madonna, c. 1310

Barocci, The Madonna and Child

with Saint Joseph and the Infant
Baptist, c. 1575

Philippe Aris argued that:

The social constructions of childhood have
changed over time, and that child-rearing
practices have changed as a consequence
Children were not distinct from adults in the
Middle Ages
By the 1500 the idea of childhood as a different
stage from adulthood emerged
Childhood is an invention of the Church and
the elite to teach the masses to control children
who were not considered separate from their
parents and full individuals until adulthood

Ariss critics argued that:

Aris interpretation of social
construction of childhood through
painting analysis:
1. Is not representative of the SES
spectrum
2. Is biased because paintings were
commissioned by the Church
3. Is incorrect because it was not true
that children were treated with
indifference in the Middle Ages

Western discourses of
childhood
Puritan discourse: Children are
ignorant and sinful, but could be
enlighten through discipline and
education
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Life without strict discipline would be
nasty, brutish, and short
Oliver Twist clip

Western discourses of
childhood
Tabula rasa discourse: Children
arrive in the world as tabula rasa
John Locke (1632-1704)
Children are inadequate precursors to
the real state of human beings but
could be educated to develop a rational
and reasoning mind.
Children are a product of their
environment (neither bad or good)

Western discourses of
childhood
Romantic discourse: Children are born
innocent and naturally good and society
corrupts their heart
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
children should be allowed to develop at
their own rate without adult authority and
corruption from society;
happiness is what childhood should strive
for;
education should address the specific
developmental needs of children

Summary
Notions of childhood can vary widely across
cultures and societies, and within a same
society (i.e., Canada) social constructions
Notions of childhood have varied according
to historical context
Three main ideologies are the origin for
most views on childhood in the Western
world and influencing education puritan,
and tabula rasa and romantic
Histories of childhood outside the Western
world are limited

Where do children live?

Key concepts
Children and childhood have
universal characteristics
Adults need to take care of children
Childhood can be governed at a
global level
The global level shapes childhood at
the local level
Family, school and work also shape
childhood

What do all children need?

Safety
Nurturance
Access to nutritious food and clean
water
Exploration of social and physical
environments

Levels of influence
The
Chil
d

The
Famil
y

The
Econom
y

Health,
educatio
n, child
labour
policies

Social
security,
welfare,
and
taxation
policies

Monetary and fiscal

policies (interest,
inflation, exchange
rate)

Political Framework

Levels of influence

The individual child

The family
Residential and relational community
Programmes and services
Regional and national
Global

The individual child

Biological embedding
Gender/Sex
Nutrition
Starvation
Malnutrition

Play
With adults and peers
With the environment
Alone

Critical periods of brain development

Preschool age

School age

High

Number
concepts

Sensitivity

Hearing
Peer
relationships

Symbols
Language
Vision

Low
0

Executive
function
3

Age

Graph developed by Council for Early Child Development (ref: Nash, 1997; Early Years Study, 1999; Shonkoff, 2000.) Slide presented by
Clyde Hertzman, Human Early Learning Partnership in Reggio Emilia, Italy, September 2011.

The family
What constitutes a family?
Social resources:
Relationships
Parenting skills
Education
Cultural practices

Economic resources:
Disposable income
Occupation
Housing conditions

The family
Primary social influence through
attachment
Secure attachment as a building block for
social and physical exploration
Exploration leads to self-confidence which
leads to more exploration
What factors can impact on mothers and
children to develop secure attachment?
Maternal depression, low birth weight,
malnutrition, infections, war, domestic violence,
poverty, physical or mental disability

The family
SES gradient effect
Under 5-mortality
Greater in countries with wider gap
Economic growth not paired with more
spending increases child mortality

SES and social and economic

resources:
How can these impact on child
development?

The family
Mental and physical health
Addictions, violence, depression, chronic
illness, physical handicaps, acute stress, HIV
How can the health of the caregivers affect child
dev.?

The role of fathers in nurturing children

How can fathers become more engaged in
childrens raring? gender roles

Maternal education and gender inequity

Quality of family dwelling
Social support/isolation

Residential and relational

community
Residential:
SES (social fabric)
Space (e.g., urban versus rural landscape)
Physical structures (conditions of
buildings, presence of parks)
Geography (isolated lands, remote places)
Access to services (child care, hospitals,
schools, professional services)
Physical exposures (toxins, air pollutants,
water quality, noise)

Residential and relational

community
Relational:
Social capital (extent to which people
help each other and are linked to one
another)
Social support

Programmes and services

Access to early childhood education
Access to competent child care
Holistic early childhood practices
Literacy/numeracy
Socio-emotional/cognitive
Physical health/immunization
Nutrition/life styles

Why is early intervention more cost

effective?

ECD- TEAM: Total Environment Assessment Model for Early Child Development (Siddiqi, Irwin,
Hertzman 2007)

Programmes and services

Effective programmes:
Focus on children and their support network
Structure
Staff training, expertise, class size, child-staff
ratio, safety, resources
Process
Staff stability, work atmosphere, relationship
between providers and parents/children
Nurturance
Gender equity, mentoring, encouragement,
safety, exploration, richness of stimulation,
cultural sensitivity

Programmes and services

Effective programmes (cntd):
Sense of ownership and community
involvement
Parent participation
Special programs for specific needs of children

The global level

Resource rich nations can influence ECD
policies of resource poor nations
Structural Adjustment Programmes:
Promotes privatization and reduction of
government role in social welfare
Ghanas GDP improved, inflation reduced, but
socioeconomic inequalities increases and
childrens welfare worsened

International conventions promote rights

of the children globally
Child labour globalization role of NGOs

Globalization
What is globalization?
It is a particular type of international
integration (Noam Chomsky)

How is globalization affecting children in

Canada and around the world?
Universalization of stages of development (e.g.,
definition of preschool age)
Social marketing (children of the South as poor
and unhappy)
Parenting practices (Dr. Spocks book)
Childrens play and work traditions

Different approaches
Scientific: Generation of facts by testing
hypotheses through experimental and
observational study
What do we know about children?

Social contructionism: Discusses different ideas

about childhood as the function of different
ideologies dependent on culture and social values
What do we think about children?

Applied: Practical issues, treatment of children,

their needs and rights, responsibility of parents,
professionals and institutions (e.g., nations)
What can do for children?

Scientific approach
What is the purpose of science in child
studies?
Simply put, science consists of seeking to
establish universal laws of cause and effect
(whether about physical processes like gravity or
psychological and physiological processes like
development) through developing theories and
testing them by observation and experiment
(Stainton Rogers, 2003; pg. 12)
Do you agree with this statement?
What does universal laws of cause of effect mean?
What role do context and individual differences play in
science?

Scientific approach

Social contructionism
What is the purpose of social
constructionism?
Its aim is to describe the alternative ways in
which we can answer the question What is
a child and What is childhood, to explore
the origins of these questions, and, crucially,
to examine the consequences of adopting
different answers. (Stainton Rogers, 2003; pg. 24)

Social contructionism can provide the

conceptual framework for
interpretation of scientific results

Social contructionism
An extreme take on social
contructionism is that nothing is
objective but rather the product of
human meaning-making (Stainton Rogers,
2003; pg. 25)

Social constructionism
What is a discourse?
a set of interconnected ideas that work
together in a self-contained way, ideas
that are held together by a particular
ideology or view of the world (Stainton
Rogers, 2003; pg. 21)

A discourse is a conceptual framework for

interpretation of facts or events

What is your discourse of

childhood?

Discourses of childhood
Romantic discourse Jean Jacques
Rousseau
Children are innocent and inherently good natured.
We must support and nurture them and protect their
innocence

Puritan discourse Thomas Hobbes

Children are inherently uncivilized and immoral. We
must teach them whats right and wrong through
control and discipline

Tabula Rasa discourse John Lock

Children are born neither good not bad, and what
they become is the result of their experiences

Applied approach
What is the purpose of the applied approach?
This is where concern is focused on practical issues and
questions, such as: how children should be brought up
and cared for; what should be done to foster their
development; what support and services should be
provided for them; and what should be done when they
cause trouble. (Stainton Rogers, 2003; pg. 30)

It asks what influences social policy, law, and

services, and it examines how scientific
evidence is used to inform how to treat
children and what kind of services to offer
them

Applied approach
How does law take into account what is
known about children in dealing with
young offenders?
The welfare model
While it sees that children can be criminally
responsible, it advocates for treatment of young
offenders that is different from that of adults
(rehabilitation)

The justice model

It recognizes that children can be criminally
responsible and must be punished accordingly
and not differently from how adults are treated