The rise and fall of icons of ‘stolen childhood’ since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Poretti, Michele; Hanson, Karl; Darbellay, Frédéric; Berchtold, André

doi:10.1177/0907568213481816

Cited by 76 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…The second and related reason is terminology. The term child marriage is rooted in a human rights framework, taking the legal definition of childhood as ending at 18 years [15,16]. Yet in popular discourse, and more generally across the social and health sciences, the term childhood is used inconsistently, but generally refers to the period before puberty, after which children become adolescents or teenagers, and then adults.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

What does the American public know about child marriage?

et al. 2020

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Global efforts to eradicate 'child marriage' (<18 years) increasingly target governments, the private sector and the general public as agents of change. However, understanding of child marriage may be subject to popular misconceptions, particularly because of ambiguity in the age threshold implied by the term 'child', and because awareness campaigns routinely emphasize extreme scenarios of very young girls forcibly married to much older men. Here, we ascertain public knowledge of child marriage via an online survey. Half of those surveyed mistakenly believed that the cutoff for child marriage is younger than the threshold of 18 years, and nearly three-quarters incorrectly believed that most child marriages occur at 15 years or below (it primarily occurs in later adolescence). Most participants also incorrectly believed that child marriage is illegal throughout the USA (it's illegal in only 4/50 states), substantially overestimated its global prevalence, and mistakenly believed that it primarily takes place among Muslim-majority world regions. Our results highlight important popular misconceptions of child marriage that may ultimately undermine global health goals and perpetuate harmful stereotypes. Organizations seeking to empower women by reducing child marriage should be cautious of these misunderstandings, and wary of the potential for their own activities to seed misinformation.

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Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

What does the American public know about child marriage?

et al. 2020

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“…Deconstructing street children is typically a deconstruction of documents published by child care organizations, and sometimes also newspaper articles. However, unless it is a sociology of documents (for example, Poretti et al, 2013), paying attention to formal 'street children discourse' elides attention to how street children are constructed in discursive practices.…”

Section: Discursive Determinism In Scsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Beyond Discourse and Competence: Science and Subjugated Knowledge in Street Children Studies

Gigengack

2014

Eur J Dev Res

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This article argues that street children studies (SCS) has reduced its central concept to a discursive construct, and the young street people themselves to capable 'agents'. One consequence is that street children are not recognized as distinct intergenerational groupings in society. The traditional history of SCS as saga of science elides its positionality as activist critique. This dominant paradigm emerges as overarching belief structure and storytelling tradition, in which the presentation of correct and useful science is crucial. Taking the activist critique as a variant of post-development theory, this article traces different forms of discursive determinism, deconstructionism and populism. Using an iconic text as test case, the article reviews in detail the deconstructionist and populist arguments regarding the complexities, politics and images of street children. Opportunities to think sociologically are identified throughout. Discursive determinism relates to the narrow focus on childhood; intergenerational approaches help to go beyond discourse and competence.Cet article a pour but de montrer que les études sur les enfants des rues ont réduit leur concept de base à une construction discursive, et les jeunes de la rue eux-mêmes à des « agents » actifs. Il en résulte entre autres que les enfants des rues ne sont pas reconnus comme des groupes intergénérationnels distincts dans la société. L'histoire traditionnelle des études sur les enfants des rues, en tant que saga des sciences, élide son positionnement de critique activiste. Ce paradigme dominant apparaît comme une structure fondamentale de croyance et une tradition narrative dans lesquelles il est essentiel que soit présentée une science correcte et utile. En s'appuyant sur la critique activiste, comprise comme une variante de la théorie du postdéveloppe-ment, cet article décrit différentes formes de déterminisme discursif, de déconstructivisme et de populisme. Il part du cas-type d'un texte emblématique pour examiner en détail les arguments déconstructivistes et populistes concernant les complexités, les politiques et les images liées aux enfants des rues. Des pistes d'analyse sociologique sont identifizées tout au long du travail. Le déterminisme discursif est lié à l'attention portée exclusivement à l'enfance; les approches intergénérationnelles permettent de dépasser le discours et la compétence.[I]t is really against the effects of power of a discourse that is considered to be scientific that the genealogy must wage its struggle. (Foucault, 1980, p. 84) Looking at the past in order to comprehend the present, this article sketches a genealogy of knowledge about street children. Olivier de Sardan's (2005) meta-theory helps to identify methodological and ideological variants of deconstructionism and populism. What is considered to be scientific discourse about street children, I argue, affirms the tenets of the currently dominant paradigm, namely, that street children are constructed in discourse and that they are competent agents. This leads to ...

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“…For instance, in Swedish government action plans and social work interventions, IPV‐exposed children are frequently portrayed as passive, vulnerable and in need of adult protection (Andersson and Cater, ). This is also evident in scientific discourse where they are argued to embody victimhood without blame or responsibility (Callaghan and others, ; Poretti and others, ). This paper explores processes of victim positioning by analysing how 10 children in Sweden narrate how they and their siblings have responded to adult IPV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Caring or Vulnerable Children? Sibling Relationships When Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Åkerlund

2017

Children & Society

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Drawing on qualitative interviews with the children about how they and their siblings have responded to intimate partner violence, this paper explores processes of victim positioning. In their narratives, some children positioned themselves in line with notions of vulnerable victims, while others positioned themselves as caregivers or changed their positions vis‐à‐vis their siblings. In their stories, they assigned and assumed positions in interaction with their siblings. Receiving sibling support and care was in the narratives related to the quality of the sibling relationship, the shared experiences of violence and the age order.

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The rise and fall of icons of ‘stolen childhood’ since the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Cited by 76 publications

References 20 publications

What does the American public know about child marriage?

What does the American public know about child marriage?

Beyond Discourse and Competence: Science and Subjugated Knowledge in Street Children Studies

Caring or Vulnerable Children? Sibling Relationships When Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

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