When intersectionality met childhood studies: the dilemmas of a travelling concept

Abstract

Childhood studies/geographies have a longstanding interest in questions around multiple social inequalities and identities in diverse socio-spatial contexts, but have not yet seriously considered the politics of intersectionality. Importing intersectionality into childhood studies is neither a straightforward nor an unproblematic process. We suggest that the question that childhood studies/geographies scholars must confront is how intersectionality can be used in this interdisciplinary field in ways which recognise and take seriously the intellectual history and labour of Black women and preserve the integrity of intersectionality's radical praxis of emancipatory knowledge production and collective action for social justice. This article examines how intersectionality and its emancipatory politics might be preserved, strengthened and enhanced when it is operationalised in a context of childhood studies/geographies.

Centering the problem child: Temporality, colonialism, and theories of the child

“…My argument here echoes scholars who have critiqued the dominant White and Western epistemological foundations of childhood studies (Burman and Stacey, 2010; Farley and Garlen, 2016; Konstantoni and Emejulu, 2017; Nxumalo and Cedillo, 2017; Pérez et al, 2017; Rodriguez, 2017; Solís, 2017), in that I argue that the inability of prominent theories to address “the lived experiences of women and children of color, colonialism, and the violence experienced by global south peoples” (Pérez et al, 2017: 80) is in part produced by their failure to reckon with colonial temporalities. Childhood studies has the potential to be able to theorize a different understanding of childhood that centers the problem child and, in doing so, build knowledge of the ways in which colonialism continues to structure children’s lives.…”

‘I can only be properly myself when I’m with her’: Early adolescent intra-ethnic immigrant group friendships as a safe space for identity exploration, negotiation and validation

“…The study also draws upon the concepts of ethnic identity construction and enactment (Cross et al, 2017;Phinney, 2003), ethnic friendship homophily (Syed and Juan, 2012;Titzmann, 2014;Titzmann and Silbereisen, 2009) and acculturation theory (Berry, 1997;Berry et al, 2012;Sam, 2006;Van de Vijver, 2018). Although not explicitly used as a framework here, intersectionality, which was developed as a theory to explain the societal oppression of women of colour (Crenshaw, 1989), and is now used to describe the interconnected nature of different social categorisations, is implicit in the ways in which gender, ethnicity, race and national origins interact in participant's everyday lives (Konstantoni and Emejulu, 2017).…”

Tracing the contribution of childhood studies: Maintaining momentum while navigating tensions

“…Perhaps such patterns of a proposed childhood studies ‘fabric’ would then highlight some of the diversities that other childhood studies scholars are advocating for. These include the need to focus on the politics and practices of intersectionality (Konstantoni and Emejulu, 2017); the need for a global approach to childhood studies including Majority World experiences of childhood (James, 2010b; Konstantoni, 2012; Punch and Tisdall, 2012; Tisdall, 2012; Tisdall and Punch, 2012) and the experiences of children with a disability (Curran and Runswick-Cole, 2013, 2014); the need to include children’s experiences in their global context such as in tourism contexts (Canosa and Graham, 2016; Carpenter, 2015); and the need to move beyond ‘deficit’ views of children in applied fields such as social work (Mekada, 2011) and family law (Arce, 2015; Freeman, 2012; Hanson, 2014; Tisdall, 2016).…”