Reconceptualising Agency and Childhood

Abstract

By regarding children as actors and conducting empirical research on children's agency, Childhood Studies have gained significant influence on a wide range of different academic disciplines. This has made agency one of the key concepts of Childhood Studies, with articles on the subject featured in handbooks and encyclopaedias.Reconceptualising Agency and Childhood is the first collection devoted to the central concept of agency in Childhood Studies. With contributions from experts in the field, the chapters cover theoretical, practical, historical, transnational and institutional dimensions of agency, rekindling discussion and introducing fundamental and contemporary sociological perspectives to the field of research. Particular attention is paid to connecting agency in the social sciences with Childhood Studies, considering both the theoretical foundations and the practice of research into agency. Empirical case studies are also explored, which focus upon child protection, schools and childcare at a variety of institutions worldwide.This book is an essential reference for students and scholars of Childhood Studies, and is also relevant to Sociology, Social Work, Education, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and Geography.

‘I Eat the Vegetables because I Have Grown them with My Own Hands’: Children's Perspectives on School Gardening and Vegetable Consumption

“…Parents’ enthusiasm regarding their harvest added to their children's own enthusiasm and pride, and also instilled a sense of confidence in contributing to family decisions about meals and eating vegetables. This is in line with the thought that agency is embedded in children's social relations and interdependency and that at the same time their actions affect their relationships (Bollig and Kelle, ; Esser and others, ).…”

“…Recognising children's agency means acknowledging that they are not just the passive subjects of social structures and processes but, instead, active in the construction and determination of their lives and environments (Prout and James, ). We adopt a relational social theories view and a network‐analysis understanding of agency, locating agency in social relations, interdependence and interaction with the material world (Dedding and others, ; Esser, ; Esser and others, ; Knorr‐Cetina, ; Stoecklin, ). From this perspective, we were interested in the material and non‐material forces to which children were exposed in being involved in school gardening and how these forces encouraged children to exercise agency, especially in relation to vegetable cultivation and consumption.…”

Music Listening for Supporting Adolescents’ Sense of Agency in Daily Life

“…These results are in line with both music literature and agency literature. The former informs us that there is a plethora of contextual factors that shape the usages and related affective impact of music in everyday life listening (Randall and Rickard, 2017a,b), and the latter posits that the sense of agency is embedded, context-bound, plastic, and malleable (Martin et al, 2003;Esser et al, 2016). The findings of the current study confirm that the relationship of music and perceived agency is intrinsically embedded in the multifaceted nature of our daily experiences, dependent on specific contextual variables.…”

“…Agency can, thus, be conceived as "embedded and situated, yet also emergent within historical sociocultural contexts, which in turn are nested in the biological and physical world" (Martin et al, 2003, p.133). Consequently, agency is a plastic, changing, and negotiable stated (as opposed to a trait or competence), reliant on context-bound, interdependent, and dynamic processes (Esser et al, 2016).…”

Remontar fronteras para trabajar en el sur de México: el caso de adolescentes de Guatemala en Tapachula

“…Remontar fronteras para trabajar en el sur de México... julio-diciembre 2018, núm. 11 ISSN: 2007-7610 El marco jurídico internacional 11 que hace referencia a niños, niñas y adolescentes -de manera genérica, "niñez"-ha incidido en la manera de conceptualizar a la población migrante en estos grupos de edad (Gallo, 2005;Bhabha, 2008;Esser et al, 2016), lo que ha contribuido a cambiar la visión tutelar o asistencialista hacia una visión que los considera como sujetos de derechos humanos (Gallo, 2005: 139). Los principios en los que se fundamenta este marco jurídico como son el derecho a la no discriminación, el derecho a la vida y al desarrollo, y el derecho a ser escuchados y a la participación, así como el interés superior de la niñez, entre otros principios fundamentales, han contribuido a una perspectiva que, en el caso de la migración, se centra en niños, niñas y adolescentes, independientemente de su estatus migratorio y de la modalidad de su migración (Gallo, 2005;Bhabha, 2008;Chávez y Menjívar, 2010;Boehm et al, 2011;Beazley, 2015).…”