The ASA Section on Children and Youth has created a Facebook page that hopefully will be the start of an online community.  This can be a resource for conference and publication announcements.  If you are a Facebook member, visit the page and click “Like” to join the community: http://tinyurl.com/27oltfb

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health & Society Scholars Program, University of Michigan is hosting a symposium on the:

“Social Determinants of Child Health”
May 17th-18th, 2011
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/sdch.registration/home

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program at the University of Michigan invite you to attend a symposium on the “Social Determinants of Child Health.” The objective of this symposium is to raise scholarly awareness and further develop a research agenda focused on the social determinants of child health. Researchers from the social sciences, public health, and medicine will present their work on this topic. Topics covered will include: the social, biological, and environmental determinants of child health; patterns and trends in child health; child health policies; and emerging issues in child health (e.g., autism, ADHD, vaccinations).  Please see our website (http://sitemaker.umich.edu/sdch.registration/home) for a complete list of sessions, details about speakers, and registration information.  

We welcome you to join us for the symposium. There is no cost to attend.  If you have questions, please contact one of the co-organizers: Hedy Lee (hedylee@umich.edu), Neil Mehta (nkmehta@umich.edu), or Kristin Turney (turney@umich.edu).

Travel Awards for Students, Post-docs, and Recent PhD Graduates

We are pleased to announce a competition for travel awards to offset the cost of attending the symposium. Recipients will be expected to present a poster that details their original research on the social determinants of child health. Recipients will also be expected to attend all symposium events. Awards will be approximately $500 and can be used to offset the cost of domestic travel and hotel accommodations (additional funds may be available).  We expect to make 10 awards.   

In addition, we are exploring the possibility of publishing a special issue on the social determinants of child health in conjunction with a peer-reviewed journal. Recipients will have an opportunity to submit their research to the special issue.   

Eligibility: Applicants must be currently enrolled in pre-doctoral or post-doctoral training or completed doctoral training within the last five years at time of submission.

Procedure: Applicants should email a cover letter (one page), extended abstract of their research (two page), and CV to Neil Mehta (nkmehta@umich.edu). Please submit all materials in one attached document. The cover letter should discuss how attending the symposium is related to the applicant’s career goals. Awards will be assessed based on the scientific merit of the research, the suitability of the research to the symposium’s themes, and the potential benefits to the applicant.   

Deadline: Applications should be submitted on or before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, February 1, 2011.

You can now submit to the 2011 ASA Annual Meeting program.
http://www.asanet.org/meetings/Call_for_Papers.cfm

Also, I am posting in the program for the Children and Youth Section of the ASA just below.

Section on Children and Youth
(session 1 of 4)
Understanding and Protecting Children’s Rights (Open Session). Session Organizer: Brian Gran, Case Western Reserve University, brian.gran@case.edu

(session 2 of 4)
Social Context, Public Policy, and Child and Adolescent Well-Being (Open Session). Session Organizer: Stefanie Mollborn, University of Colorado at Boulder, mollborn@colorado.edu

(session 3 of 4)
Sociological Perspectives in Federally Funded Research on Children (Invited Session). Session Organizer: Elizabeth Cooksey, Ohio State University, cooksey@chrr.osu.edu

(session 4 of 4)
Section on Children and Youth Refereed Roundtables (Roundtable). Session Organizer: C.J. Pascoe, Colorado College, c.j.pascoe@coloradocollege.edu

Section Chair: Rob Crosnoe, University of Texas at Austin, crosnoe@austin.utexas.edu

The Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University-Camden is excited to announce a new listserve catering to the multi-disciplinary field of Childhood Studies. Those of us who study issues around children, childhoods, youth and young adulthood are in far flung departments and professions, separated by disciplinary boundaries. Begun in May of 2010 this listserve is already a point of connection for over 1100 scholars and practitioners study and working with children and childhood and fills a much needed function as a central clearinghouse of information for our disparate field. We welcome Calls for Papers, Announcements of conferences, events, new books, articles and other resources, requests for information, and information on new programs and departments. This list will also provide an opportunity to find people with similar interests across our broad field and open up discussion within it.

To join, please go to: https://email.rutgers.edu/mailman/listinfo/exploring_childhood_studies

Thanks.

Patrick Cox and Anandini Dar
Department of Childhood Studies
Rutgers University-Camden

Dear all,

It may interest some of you to know that in 2009 the Centre for the Study of
Childhood and Youth at the University of Sheffield established a network of global
childhood studies researchers. The aim of the network is to explore ways of
expanding childhood studies beyond Western Europe and North America, both
conceptually and methodologically in order to ensure that the priorities and
perspectives of childhood studies researchers focusing on the global south
are taken into account in existing paradigms of childhood studies.

One component of this network is the establishment of a mailing list which
seeks to facilitate networking and collaboration amongst global childhood
studies researchers. The mailing list will enable participants to share
information about events and publications, explore opportunities for
collaboration in research and other projects, highlight their research
achievements, share recent research findings, seek advice from others and
engage in discussion on topics that are current in childhood studies,
especially within a global context with likeminded people.

Posts made to this mailing list will normally be sent to members on a weekly
basis by the moderator. However, exceptions will be made.

To subscribe to the mailing list visit its home
page:https://lists.shef.ac.uk/sympa/info/cscy-globalchildhoodstudiesnetwork

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Afua Twum-Danso,
the
list moderator (a.twum-danso@sheffield.ac.uk)

Best Wishes,
Afua
–
Dr. Afua Twum-Danso
Lecturer in the Sociology of Childhood
Department of Sociological Studies,
The University of Sheffield
Elmfield.
Northumberland Road
Sheffield,
S10 2TU, UK
Tel: (0114 22) 26444
Fax : (0114) 2768125
Email: a.twum-danso@sheffield.ac.uk
Department of Sociological Studies Home Page -http://www.shef.ac.uk/socst/

Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth Home Page -
http://www.cscy.group.shef.ac.uk/index.htm

‘Childhoods Today’ E-journal

Childhoods Today is an externally reviewed bi-annual e-journal published by the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth at the University of Sheffield (UK), and supported by the World Universities Network.

The aim of the journal is to provide an international forum designed exclusively for the publication of articles by postgraduate students (i.e. those studying for the MA, M.Phil. or PhD), as well as those who have recently completed their PhDs in the field of childhood studies, which can then be accessed by other postgraduates and academics working in the field.

First published in 2007, the journal has already achieved a high level of

International recognition and received an endorsement from Childwatch International.

The website has already had in excess of 4,000 ‘hits’ from all over the world.

It is also archived by the British Library.

Childhoods Today was founded by Professor Adrian L. James of the University of Sheffield and the Norwegian Centre for Child Research (NOSEB), University of Trondheim. It is currently edited by Dr. Afua Twum-Danso of the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield.

In 2010 the Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth will be awarding a prize of £100 to the author of the best article published in Childhoods Today this year.

The site can be found at http://www.childhoodstoday.org and anyone wishing to submit material for publication can access the ‘Notes for Authors’ page on the journal’s website.

For further information please contact:

Dr. Afua Twum-Danso- a.twum-danso@sheffield.ac.uk

or

Mrs. Dawn Lessels- d.j.lessels@sheffield.ac.uk

The European University Institute – Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies is inviting abstracts for the workshop Transnational family making: children, young people and migration organised during its 12th Mediterranean Research Meeting: Florence 6 – 9 April 2011.

Workshop presentation:
Whilst children and young people are often at the core of the migration flows toward EU countries (‘on the move’, ‘left behind’ or as main ‘rationale’ for migration), they do not always receive the proper academic interest. The workshop aims to explore the migratory experiences of families (including children and young people) and to examine how policy-makers and service-providers assist children and families in this process. It aims to bridge the gap between otherwise separated scholarships on immigration and emigration, by exploring the understanding of migration from home and host societies.

What are the main patterns of migration and how do they influence children and young people? To what extent is migration changing the new transnational family dynamics? How are children and young people embracing the new roles and what are the social expectations exerted upon them (be it in home or host countries)? How the different patterns of parenthood from a distance impact on children lives and on their migratory trajectories? How the needs of transnational families impact and transform the offer of social and educational services in the origin and arrival country? To what extent are children’s specific needs, addressed by (trans)national social and migratory policies?

The workshop welcomes presentations that explore children, young people and parents’ own experiences of migration, but also papers that critically examine the policy provisions and social interventions aimed at children, young people and parents in the origin and arrival countries.

Deadline for online submissions of abstracts: 15 July 2010.
More information at http://www.eui.eu/DepartmentsAndCentres/RobertSchumanCentre/Research/InternationalTransnationalRelations/MediterraneanProgramme/MRM/MRM2011/ws12.aspx

For all who are interested in the German section of Sociology of Childhood:  This will be the program of a joint plenary session with the Sociology of Education at the 35th congress of the German Association of Sociology (DGS) in Frankfurt on Thursday, 14th of October 201o, 9.00-12.30.

Program:

John Meyer (Stanford):
The empowered child in supra-national society

Hans Bertram/Steffen Kohl (Berlin):
Kinderrechte, Kindeswohl und Teilhabechancen

Richard Münch (Bamburg):
Mit dem PISA-Express in die globale Wissensgesellschaft – Regimewandel durch die Transnationalisierung des Feldes der Bildung“

Johannes Angermüller (Mainz):
Auf dem Weg zur Numerokratie? Zur diskursiven Konstruktion internationaler Exzellenz in nationalen Kontexten

Edgar Arias (Michigan), Luz Dary Botero (Medellin), Soledad Betancur (Santa Cruz), Angela Stienen (Bern):
Die Durchsetzung globaler Bildungsstandards im Weltsüden: zwischen Subalternisierung und Demokratisierung

Download Program of Sociology of Childhood Frankfurt/2010

ISA RC 53

Forthcoming elections

Fellow Members, the following people have accepted nominations to be put forward for the forthcoming elections to the board which will be held in Gotenberg in July.  I have attached brief biographies for each candidate so you can consider how to place your vote, you may also contact candidates directly therefore their email addresses and webpages, where available, are also included.

Please check the membership list list as only members hold the right to vote.

If you are voting electronically the attached ballot paper  (Page 7 of the PDF Forthcoming elections 2010) needs to be returned to me before 10^th July 2010.  For those who will be present at the General Meeting there will be the opportunity to vote in person.

You can send the vote per mail at the follwoing adress:

Prof. Dr. Doris Buehler-Niederberger
Soziologie der Familie, Jugend und der Erziehung
Bergische Universitaet Wupppertal
Gaussstrasse 20
42119 Wuppertal
Germany

Granting anonymity, please make sure, that your vote is encased in an additional plain envelope.

President

Loretta Bass

Research Committee 53 on the Sociology of Childhood has been my home within the ISA, and I most recently enjoyed serving on the RC53 Board.  I feel honored to be nominated to serve as chair.  I am also active in the American Sociological Association’s Section on Children and Youth, and I would like to create some synergy across these two like-minded and vibrant groups.

Children are our future.  Therefore, I focus my research on children and stratification issues.  Currently, I have four research projects going:  1) a book manuscript on the integration of African immigrant children and their mothers in France; 2) a project exploring stratified health outcomes for women and children in the U.S.; 3) a study of nonresident fathers’ parenting of their children; and 4) a local child obesity initiative using a sample of Oklahoma fifth graders and their parents.  I am most proud of my research on the issue of child labor which is published in a book entitled Child Labor in Sub-Saharan Africa (2004, Lynne Rienner Publishers).

If elected, I would work to keep RC53 fun and inclusive, while also developing presentation and publishing outlets for the work of our members.  Thank you for your consideration.

lbass@ou.edu

Secretary/ Treasurer

Lars Alberth

Lars Alberth has a diploma in social sciences and works as a research assistant at the University of Wuppertal at Sociology of  Family, Youth and Education, chaired by Doris Bühler-Niederberger. His PhD thesis concerns the invention of culture on international and national level. He currently started a research project on the professional interventions into private life in cases of child maltreatment and neglect, especially on their orientation towards children (together with Doris Bühler-Niederberger). The project is funded by the German Research Community (DFG).

He was already involved in the organization of the Section “Sociology of Childhood” at the German Association of Sociology (DGS), mainly with the management of memberships.

Homepage of research project SKiPPI (System of Social Politics, Child Endangerment and Processes of Professional Intervention): http://projekt-skippi.info (in German).

alberth@uni-wuppertal.de

Vinod Chandra

Vinod Chandra is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology at J N Post Graduate College, Lucknow University, Lucknow, India.  He is a recipient of Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholarship and has been awarded Ph.D. in Sociology by the University of Warwick (United Kingdom). At the International Sociology Association (ISA), he holds the posts of Vice-president (Asia Region) for the period of 2006-2010 in the Research Committee on Sociology of Youth (RC:34). He is also Executive Board Member of RC:53 (Sociology of Childhood) for the period of 2006-2010. His latest publications include ‘Children’s Domestic Work’ (2008) published by Manak Publication New Delhi and ‘Growing up in a Globalized World’ (2009) published by Macmillan India, New Delhi. Dr Chandra has recently carried out his post doctoral research at Maison Des Sciences de l’Homme (MSH), Paris under the Indo-French Social Scientist Award Scheme. His interest in youth and childhood studies has involved him in the study of Sociology of Children’s Work and placement of children in the division of labour. He is currently involved in a project to assess the life experiences of Indian Children in Britain in particular reference to work, leisure, and religion. Dr Chandra is Editorial Advisor of ‘Young’ – An International Journal, and editor of Vichar – Biannual Refereed Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Published in Hindi from India. He has a credit of organizing 8^th International Conference on ‘Asian Youth and Childhoods 2007’ in Lucknow, India. He is Executive Secretary of the Circle for Child and Youth Research Cooperation in India (CCYRCI). He is also an activist of Child Rights Protection in India and member of many Government and Non-Government Bodies on Child Rights. Widely travelled Dr Chandra’s academic itinerary includes Britain, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Norway, Australia, Malta, Macau, China and France.

vhandra009@gmail.com

Nominations for Officers at Large

Claudio Baraldi

Claudio Baraldi is Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) and co-director of the Centre for Research and Studies on Families, Childhood and Adolescence (CIRSFIA), supported by four Italian universities. His main scientific interests include communication theories, forms of communication and interaction between children and adults, social intervention promoting children participation and competence in conflict management, affective communication in families and groups, intercultural communica­tion, mediation and dialogue and promotion of multicultural citizenship. He has coordinated a number of research programs, funded by the Italian govern­ment, and other local, national and international institutions, including UNICEF and CISV (Children International Summer Villages). He has written 17 books as author or co-author and edited another 15 in Italy. He has published many essays in Italian and international books and journals (including Childhood, Children & Society, Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Current Sociology), regarding interactions between children and adults. In English, he has edited the books Education and Intercultural Narratives in Multicultural Classrooms (Rome, 2006) and Dialogue in Multicultural Communities: From an Educational Point of View (Amsterdam, 2009).

claudio.baraldi@unimore.it

Maria Eriksson

Maria Eriksson, PhD, is Associate Professor in Sociology & Senior Lecturer in Child and Youth Studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her research primarily concerns policy and practice development as regards children exposed to intimate partner violence and these children’s rights. Theoretically, her work focuses upon the agency of children in difficult life situations and the relationship between children’s rights to care and to participation, as well as the intersection between the age order and other forms of inequality, such as gender and ethnicity. Empirically, her recent research includes studies of the law as an arena for the protection of women’s and children’s human rights in different European countries, participation in family law proceedings for children whose father is violent to their mother, approaches to girls and boys as victims, and approaches to children exposed to violence amongst women’s shelter and children’s rights organizations in the Nordic countries. Currently she is, amongst other things, involved in a national project in Sweden evaluating support interventions for children exposed to violence against their mothers, and in a study of the interface between family law proceedings and school. She is also the coordinator of a network on Nordic research on interventions to protect and support children exposed to violence in their family gathering 45 members in all of the Nordic countries.

Maria.Eriksson@soc.uu.se

Ethel Kosminsky

Ethel V. Kosminsky is Professor of Sociology at the Social Sciences Graduate Program, São Paulo State University (UNESP) – Marília, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Sociology at Queens College/City University of New York (CUNY) since fall 2008. She was the founder and also the director of the Group of Research and Studies on Children and Youth at UNESP – Marilia from 2001 to 2006, which was financially supported by the Brazilian Federal Government and Sao Paulo State grants. Her research interests focus on Sociology of Children and Youth, Sociology of International Migration (Brazilian-Japanese Migration, Jewish Migration to Brazil and Jewish Migration to the U.S.), Family Relationships, Gender, Brazilian Social Thought (Racial and Ethnic Relations), and Qualitative Social Research. Currently she has been working on children whose Japanese-Brazilian parents are labor immigrants in Japan.

ethelkos@hotmail.com

Maria Letícia Nascimento

Maria Letícia Nascimento is a Graduate of Pedagogy from the University of São Paulo (1981), master’s at Education from University of São Paulo (1997) and PhD. of Education from University of São Paulo (2003). Since 2007 she has been a Professor in the School of Education, University of São Paulo (FEUSP). She is a researcher in the field of sociology of childhood and early childhood education, coordinates a group of studies and research on the topic. She coordinates the working group on education for children aged 0 to 6 years in the National Association for Research and Graduate Education (ANPEd) and has participated in  RC53 of the ISA since 2005.  For detailed information on publications etc please see:

http://lattes.cnpq.br/1186603380091130

mletician@gmail.com

Sharon Pinkney

I have been engaged in research on how the concept of ‘participation’ constructs, produces and reproduces children as ‘new subjects’ within social-welfare formations. This is qualitative research using narrative and discourse analysis of policy texts relating to children and young people who are either Looked After in Local authority care or are deemed ‘at risk’ of significant harm. For these groups of children and young people participation in decision-making takes on a particular significance.

Currently I am particularly interested in bringing together the emotional and psychosocial perspectives with the ‘New sociology of Childhood’ and children’s rights perspectives to throw new light on children’s participation in social welfare organisations such as Children’s Services in the UK.  This exploration of the relational dynamics between children, young people and professionals who work with them could significantly assist further understanding about some of the challenges and difficulties encountered in participation in practice.  I previously worked in social, youth, community and play work and my research builds upon the experience of work with children and young people in those settings.

Most of my research up to now has had a UK focus. I am interested in developing a comparative research project using data gathered from the UK and comparing the way participation has been enacted in this context with Scandinavian countries such as Norway and Sweden. Future collaboration with ISA colleagues will be most welcome in developing this research further.

s.m.pinkney@open.ac.uk

http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/people-profile.php?name=Sharon_Pinkney

Regine Sirota

Régine Sirota is Professor at University of Paris 5-Sorbonne.

She is member of CERLIS ( Research Center on Social Links, CNRS/ Paris V).  She has been working in the field of Sociology of Education, after having studied daily life in the classroom( L’école primaire au quotidien, Daily life in the primary school), cultural practices( Ballades en bibliothèque pour lecteurs en herbe, Strolling through the library for  young readers ), school curriculum( Du laboratoire à la classe, From the lab to the classroom) and educational European construction (Autour du comparatisme en education,  About Comparatism in education).

At present her main interest concerns theoretical development of childhood studies and her empirical work is focused on childhood rituals and especially Birthday ritual.

She has published two special issues of the journal “Education et Sociétés “focused on Sociology of Childhood, and she is the Editor of « Elements pour une sociologie de l’enfance » which gathers the work of 28 french-speaking researchers from 9 nationalities working in the field of sociology of childhood,, published in 2006. With Doris Buhler Niedeberger she published Marginality and Voice, Children in Sociology and Society, Current Sociology, 2010, n° 58 (02).  She is the Leader of the network “Sociologie de l’enfance” belonging to the French Speaking  International Sociological Association (AISLF) and is member of the editorial board of Childhood

I would like to reinforce connections between English speaking sociology of childhood and the French-speaking network. The field has grown up and been developed through different directions in different countries, it is necessary to reconnect those networks, to take into account those different traditions in order to strengthen the field.

regine.sirota@paris5.sorbonne.fr

Shirley SUN Hsiao-Li

Shirley SUN Hsiao-Li holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from New York University (2005).  She has published articles in the “Journal of Comparative Family Studies” “Childhood” and “Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology” on the intersection between intergenerational and gender relations.  Her forthcoming publications are on the topics of population and public and social policy.  She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Division of Sociology at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

HLSun@ntu.edu.sg

Finally, the Edition on Childhood Sociology has been published as a volume of  ‘Current Sociology’. The papers are based on the conference held by RC 53 in Wuppertal in summer 2005.

Please  go visit the journal’s homepage:  http://csi.sagepub.com/content/vol58/issue2/