Child as method: A device to read the geopolitics of childhood

Erica Burman

doi:10.5209/tekn.84628

Child as method: A device to read the geopolitics of childhood

Erica Burman University of Manchester https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2504-5120

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/tekn.84628

Keywords: Asia as Method, border studies, feminist theory, migration studies, postcolonial studies

Abstract

Child as method is an analytical approach addressing socio-political practices focusing on the positioning accorded the child/children that highlights the necessary intersections between political economies of childhood with geopolitical dynamics, while countering normalized and hegemonic functions (of abstraction and individualization) typically enacted by figurations of the child/childhood. It is presented as a creative transformation of Chen’s (2010) Asia as method, engaging Mezzadra and Neilson’s (2013) Border as method as well as feminist, specifically intersectionality, theory. The status of ‘method’ in child as method, is considered, alongside its potential contribution to childhood studies and social theory as a psychosocial counter to dominant technologies attending childhood.

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Author Biography

Erica Burman, University of Manchester

Erica Burman is Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, UK She is a critical developmental psychologist and methdologist specialising in innovative and activist research. She is author of Developments: child, image, nation (Routledge, 2021, 2nd Ed.), Fanon, education, action: child as method (Routledge, 2019) and Deconstructing Developmental Psychology (Routledge 2021, 3rd Ed.). She sees debates about children and childhood as central to challenging oppressions of all kinds, and especially important for current decolonisation practices.

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Published

2023-07-03

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How to Cite

Burman E. (2023). Child as method: A device to read the geopolitics of childhood. Teknokultura. Journal of Digital Culture and Social Movements, 20(2), 243-250. https://doi.org/10.5209/tekn.84628

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Issue

Vol. 20 No. 2 (2023): Digital social research

Section

Dis/Regarding...

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