ISS-4218 Child and Youth Studies in Development Context
Code
Weight of the course
Period
Course Leader
Lecturer
Teaching Methods
Modes of Assessment
Contact
ISS-4218
8 ECTS
TERM 2
Kristen Cheney
Karin Arts, Kristen Cheney
Participatory Lecture, Workshops, Study visit
Assignment(s): 50%, Written Exam: 50%
Marieke Klopper
Learning objectives
Throughout the course participants will gain a familiarity with both the works of ‘classic’ and ‘critical’
thinkers whose ideas have shaped social constructions, policies and institutions relating to childhood
and youth. In addition, the course will provide an in-depth understanding of rights based approaches
and of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Students will strengthen their ability to
understand, explain and engage with theories and debates about childhood and youth in the social
sciences, development economics and (international) law and to link these perspectives to concrete
situations and problems.
Course description
The late twentieth century witnessed a dramatic shift in conceptions and practices of child rights and
youth participation. Since this time development studies have had to more critically engage with
notions of citizenship, rights, and democracy in a global era. This course explores how changing
conceptualizations of children and youth come into contact with rights and development discourses. It
addresses key ideas and debates from the vantage point of critical pedagogy, human rights, social
anthropology, development economics, and social history and asks how childhood and youth are
significant for development practice that values social justice, equity and inclusion.
Specific areas to be covered include: How children and youth are conceptualized in development and
citizenship discourses; The impact of globalization on children and youth; Education’s role in
development and citizenship; Critical pedagogies; New Youth cultures in an age of changing media
and communication technologies; Youth social movements; The UN Convention of the Rights of the
Child (CRC), the CRC’s history and rationale, its definition of childhood, its main approaches,
contents and instruments; Competing notions of childhood/youth vulnerability and agency; and
research approaches in child/youth studies (innovative methodologies and ethical considerations)
Indicative readings
Ansell, Nicola (2005) Children, Youth and Development. London: Routledge.
Cole, J. and D. Durham (2008) ‘Introduction: Globalization and the Temporality of Children and
Youth’, in J. Cole and D. Durham (eds) Figuring the Future: Globalization and Temporalities
of Children and Youth, pp. 3-23. Santa Fe, NM: School for Advanced Research Press.
Comaroff, John, and Jean Comaroff (2005) ‘Reflections on Youth: From the Past to the Postcolony in
Africa’, in A. Honwana and F. De Boeck (eds) Makers & Breakers: Children and Youth in
Postcolonial Africa, pp. 19-30. Trenton, NJ; Dakar : Africa World Press; CODESRIA.
Hansen, K.T. (2008) ‘Introduction: Youth and the City’, in K.T. Hansen (ed.) Youth and the City in the
Global South: Tracking Globalization, pp. 3-23. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
The World Bank (2006) Chapter 7: Exercising Citizenship in The World Bank World Development
Report 2007: Development and the Next Generation, pp.160-186. Washington, DC: World
Bank.