Historical Perspectives on Children and Childhood

Aim

After completion of the course, the student on advanced level should be able to:

• distinguish and discuss historical processes of continuity and change in regard to conditions for children and notions of children
• identify which factors have influenced notions of children and childhood in the past and children’s conditions in historical contexts
• Demonstrate ability to orally summarize, present and discuss research in dialogue with others
• Demonstrate ability to identify and formulate child studies informed questions that can be answered through analysis of historical data
• account for various intellectual traditions in the study of the history of children and childhood
• Demonstrate proficiency to apply the method of source criticism in the historical analysis of children and childhood

Content

The course demonstrates how historical studies disclose how childhood is defined by time and space; how change and continuity in children’s conditions and attitudes towards children and childhood are related to historical research on, for example, family, work, education and the welfare system. Such examples are used to discuss how the state, civil society and the market, as well as demographic changes, have influenced notions of children and childhood as well as conditions for children in regional, national and global settings. Factors such as gender, ethnicity, class and age categorization, etc. are discussed in relation to how they have affected conditions for children and their implications on the meaning and change of childhood. The course also sheds light on various research and methodological traditions in the field of the history of childhood.