We are happy to share the call for papers on "Children in the Archives" for a special issue of Children & Society. By children in the archives, they mean children as authors of material in the archive, and children as visitors to, readers of, and participants in the meaning making of archival material. This special issue seeks to combine historical and participatory research to critically engage with sources from children's own perspectives.
Articles are invited to respond to the following concepts, but are not limited to:
- exploring what literary texts by, for and/or about children tell us about historical and contemporary constructions of children and childhood;
- participatory research with children and archival material;
- voices that are marginalised from the archive and how they intersect with age;
- how to navigate difficult topics with children;
- research approaches on the topic of consent, what it means for children to participate in an archive;
- the (past) child in the archive, e.g. issues around fragmentary evidence; how much mediation/editing of original text around issues such as racism is appropriate in the digitisation and dissemination of the text;
- redressing child/adult power imbalances in archival research and/or how to avoid traps of essentialising the child;
- concepts of generation (e.g. intergenerational, life stages), in sharing of texts, inheritance of texts (e.g. toys and other transgenerational objects).
In addition to these topics, we also invite interviews from policymakers and/or practitioners with experience of participatory research and/or consultation of archives in their work to contribute to practice and policy seeking to advance child and family welfare and wellbeing globally.
The full CFP can be found on the Children & Society website: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/10990...
Abstracts of 300-500 words should be sent no later than 30 April 2025.
Notification of acceptance and invitation to submit full manuscripts will be no later than 31 May 2025.