Exploring Childhood Studies, A Graduate Student Conference
Department of Childhood Studies
Rutgers University, Camden
The Department of Childhood Studies Graduate Student Organization at 
Rutgers University, Camden, invites submissions for paper 
presentations for their first formal graduate student conference to 
be held April 9, 2010 on the Camden, NJ campus. Graduate students 
from all disciplines who are engaged in research relating to 
children and childhood are encouraged to submit proposals.
The field of childhood studies engages in both theoretical and 
empirical study of children and childhood within historical, 
contemporary, interdisciplinary, multi-cultural, state, national, 
and global contexts. The interdisciplinary nature of the field is 
one of its greatest strengths and the core of its remarkable 
potential for scholarly advancement, but also leaves the field open 
for exploration and interrogation, and its borders difficult, if not 
impossible, to define.
The Exploring Childhood Studies conference proposes defining 
Childhood Studies by "doing" childhood studies. We seek papers that 
investigate childhood as a construct, children as a category, or the 
child as a real living human as their central focus, providing 
critical thought and insight while locating them in different 
contexts, fields, and ideologies.
We invite proposals from all disciplines, including education, 
literature, economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, 
political science, history, criminology, philosophy, medicine, 
religion, film studies, and cultural studies as well as 
multi-disciplinary scholarly work. The range of possible topics 
includes: war, health, rights, gender, poverty, wealth, policy, 
ethics, popular culture, globalization, school, family, home, 
sexuality, community, social constructions, theorizations and 
representations of children and childhood in all modes of fiction.
Submission: 250-word abstract plus cover letter with name, current 
level of graduate study, affiliated university, and email address to 
(m_modica /at/ vfcc.edu) . Include the words "conference abstract" in 
subject line, and include name on the cover letter only.
Deadline: October 31, 2009. Accepted presenters will receive 
notification by January 10, 2010.
Contact Patrick Cox at (ptcox /at/ camden.rutgers.edu) or Anandini Dar at 
(anandini /at/ camden.rutgers.edu) if you have questions about the 
conference, or visit http://crab.rutgers.edu/~bowman/conference/
Visit the Department of Childhood Studies here: 
http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/
Patrick Cox
PhD Student
Department of Childhood Studies, Rutgers University
http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/
Co-Chair, Exploring Childhood Studies Conference
http://crab.rutgers.edu/~bowman/conference/
"In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an 
invincible summer."
--Albert Camus
"Don't let your studies interfere with your education."
--Colonel Henry Rutgers
"the jUdges of nOrmalitY are present everywhere."
--Foucault, of course