August 29th:
Introduction
September 12th:
Alison James and Alan Prout [1996]; (2003). “A New Paradigm for the Sociology of Childhood? Provenance, Promise, and Problems,” Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood: Contemporary Issues in the Sociological Study of Childhood, edited by Alison James and Alan Prout. London: Taylor & Francis.
Coats, Karen S. (2001). “‘Keepin’ It Plural: Children’s Studies in the Academy,’” Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, 26 (3): 40–50.
Lenzer, Gertrud (2001). “Childhood Studies: Beginnings and Purposes.” The Lion and the Unicorn 25, no. 2: 181–186.
Carmel Smith and Sheila Greene (2015) “Introduction” to Key Thinkers in Childhood Studies,” edited by Carmel Smith and Sheila Greene. Cambridge: Polity Press.
September 19th:
Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. (2009). “Friedrich Froebel’s Gifts: Connecting the Spiritual and Aesthetic to the Real World of Play and Learning,” American Journal of Play: 85-99.
Carrie Hintz and Eric L. Tribunella (2019). “Historicizing Childhood” from Reading Children’s Literature: A Critical Introduction, 2nd edition. Peterborough, ON: Broadview Press.
September 26th:
Nazera Sadiq Wright, Black Girlhood in the Nineteenth Century. University of Illinois Press, 2016.
Sarah Maya Rosen and David M. Rosen (2012). “Representing Child Soldiers in Fiction and Film,” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 24: 305–312.
October 3rd:
Valeria Luiselli, Tell Me How it Ends (2017). Minneapolis:Coffee House Press.
Skármeta, Antonio (2003). Illustrated by Alfonso Ruano. The Composition. Toronto, Ontario: Groundwood Books [On reserve]
Nance-Carroll, Niall (2014). ‘Innocence is No Defense: Politicized Childhood in Antonio Skármeta’s La composición/The Composition.’ Children’s Literature in Education 45: 271–284.
October 10th:
Jason Tougaw (2017). The One You Get. Detroit: Dzanc Books.
The Florida Project, dir. Sean Baker, 2017.
October 17th:
Class cancelled (I will be at a conference).
October 24th:
Vivian Gussin Paley(1993). You Can’t Say You Can’t Play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
October 31st:
John Wall (2013). “Childism: The Challenge of Childhood to Ethics and the Humanities.” In The Children’s Table: Childhood Studies and the Humanities, edited by Anna Mae Duane, 69-84. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press.
Lara Saguisag and Matthew B. Prickett (2016). “Introduction: Children’s Rights and Children’s Literature,” The Lion and the Unicorn: v–xii.
Workshop/
Tailored sessions:
Childhood Studies is a huge, interdisciplinary field of study. No one introductory course can do it justice—and no one course can capture the range of your own experiences and interests. However, I left space in the syllabus to allow each student to discover and articulate his or her own interests in the field (the amount of time each student will receive for this depends on the number of students in the seminar).
Early in the term, I will touch base with each of you to discover your specific interests and background, and how we can best use these workshop sessions. We have several options, including:
- I can assign readings that speak to your general interests once you explain them to me, with each student posing questions that best fit his or her interests.
- We can go back to one of the previous course readings and delve more deeply into it, guided by your questions—or we can look at one of the additional readings listed below in “A Deeper Dive: Optional Readings.”
- We can choose one of the wonderful interviews from Key Thinkers in Childhood Studies and discuss that.
- We can read some of your writing-in-progress/ project proposals and respond to it.
- We can discuss how the resources at the GC (both human and structural) can best support your work (perhaps we could read more work by Childhood Studies faculty at the GC or CUNY-wide, if that was of interest).
- Any combination of the above.
Workshop dates:
November 7th:
Maritha
Jamie
Discussion of childhood “chores”
November 14th:
Bengi
Maritza
November 21st:
Genevieve, Hannah, and Meredith
December 5th:
Sydoni & Keshia
Lu
December 12th:
Stephanie
Diana
Sokhna
