Synopses & Reviews
In this, the first sociology book to consider the important issue of how children identify with place and nation, the authors use original research and international case studies to explore this topic in depth. The book is rooted in original qualitative research the authors conducted with a diverse sample of children (aged eight to eleven) across Wales, but this data is also located in the context of existing international research on place identity.
The book features analysis of lively exchanges between children on their local, national and global identities, politics, language and race. It engages with important social and political questions such as whether cultural distinctiveness can be preserved in a context of globalization, whether we are destined to passively receive dominant representations of the nation or can creatively construct our own versions; and whether national identities are necessarily exclusive. Most importantly, the book focuses on what local and national identities mean to children in an era of cultural and economic globalization.
Including material on racialization, language, politics, class and gender, Children, Place and Identity will be a valuable resource to students and researchers of childhood studies and the sociology of childhood.
Synopsis
Children, Place and Identity is the first sociology book to consider the important issue of how children identify with place and nation. The authors use original research and international case studies to explore this important topic. As well as grounding their work in sociological theory, they draw on concepts from other disciplines, such as psychology and politics, arguing that social scientists need to adopt an inter-disciplinary approach to enable them to understand fully the identity work of children.
The book features analysis of lively exchanges between children about their local, national and global identities, politics, language and race. The authors adopt a global perspective, discussing children from a range of places such as Palestine, Australia, Germany and the US and UK.
Children, Place and Identity will be of particular interest to students and researchers of Childhood Studies and sociology of childhood.