Chilhood in a global context PDF

Preview

Summary

Download Chilhood in a global context PDF

Description

Why is it important to consider childhood from a global perspective? The whole prospect of childhood is both historically and socially constructed. In previous years childhood was seen as an unimportant period of life, a child may have been allowed to or made to work, the games that a child played would be more like that for adults and the sexuality of a child would be explored, in which todays cultural views, actions like those would be criticized as illegal and deviant acts; The ways in which children were treated was like that of little adults. Aries says that “pre-modern folk tended to neglect childhood and children, often misusing them in the process, and the modern rise of class consciousness supported a host of specific gains.” Stearns, P (2005) pp 43. In contemporary society technological advancements and the multiple ways to travel have created a ‘globalised world’. Information and resources can be passed from nation to nation and this can produce changes in politics, social/ cultures and the economy. I will explore childhood in the global world and will look at ways in which childhood differs in different cultures and countries as well as ways in which the idea of childhood is similar due to globalisation. I will also explore ways in which social, cultural and political forces have shaped the meaning and experiences of childhood in a global setting. Throughout the world contrasting cultures and values in countries makes it almost impossible for childhood and the way children are raised to be similar depending on many factors of the country. The economic wealth, political ideology as well as potentially historical and cultural traditions will change the way children are seen and raised and therefore it is argued that there cannot be a global definition of childhood. “Childhood is socially constructed and therefore profoundly different expectations can be had of children depending on the society and culture of any specific time or place” (K. Wells, 2009, pp.13). This quote backs up the argument that it is difficult due to a number of factors to look at childhood from a local perspective and therefore it is imperative that we look at childhood from a global perspective and not one so narrow. An example of such differences in the way children are raised in china; “the outstanding feature of childhood in China, and that which raises the lower basic problem, is the high level of concentration, orderliness, and competence of the children.” (W. Kessen, 1977). This quote argues that in china traditional childhood practises consists of Confucian style emphasis on education and discipline. Similar to this is in the majority of South-East Asia where there is a large emphasis on education. In both North and South Korea children spend most of their time in schools and more notably in North Korea there is a large emphasis on expertise in one area of their studies for a child. (Vice, 2011). It should be said however that foreign influence is proven to be affecting the education system in South-East Asia and Joan Vaughan (1993) who taught in China said “as China becomes more open to outside contact and influence, traditional teachings comes into conflict with western ideas about ‘developmentally appropriate practises’ and goals of creativity, autonomy and critical thinking”. Therefore maybe childhood is changing around the world and traditional teachings aren’t becoming so prevalent but becoming similar to Western teachings. Contrasting to the South-East Asian traditional idea of childhood is the third world country and some other low economic countries where due to the high levels of poverty and well as potentially tradition, childhood is more likely to be filled with labour. “The prevalence of child labour is highest in sub-Saharan Africa. In the least developed countries, nearly one in four children (ages 5 to 14) are engaged in labour that is considered detrimental to their health and development.” (Unicef, 2014) With this quote we can see that most likely due to poverty in least developed countries the children there cannot attend schools and more than likely may not even have schools completely contrasting to the South-East Asian idea of childhood. This therefore contrasts every other ideal of childhood where it is filled with innocents and to a certain extent freedom where we try to safeguard children but due to poverty it is necessary

that children are forced into labour. This therefore completely backs up the idea that we must look at childhood from a global perspective. Quite similar to South-East Asia is the western idea of childhood which consist of schooling however with the addition of being cared for by the state. Where these two contrast is that In parts of SouthEast Asia care and pressure to go to school and do well is brought by the family and traditions in that part of the world. In the ‘West’ however the state governs the way a family raises children and through laws a child must attend school therefore through this whole ideal when we see a country whose children aren’t attending school, through an ethnocentric stance we ‘look down’ on said country as showing cruelty towards their children. This is shown with the international but mostly western praise of Malala Yousafzai. “Malala has become a representation of the desires and commitments of children, particularly girls, is less affluent parts of the world, as they strive for the same resources and opportunities as their more affluent peers in the west.” (M. Wyness 2015, pp 2). Through some Islamic culture females weren’t allowed to attend school in Pakistan and this was the way in which the Pakistani people raised their children. However, as previously said western ideology influenced Malala into fighting against her culture and fighting for a similar childhood to that of the west. This was then praised by the west as we see that childhood should be about education and freedom but if we saw childhood through a global perspective we’d see that childhood there is influenced by their culture and possibly economy and that doesn’t make it wrong but more done differently. There is also the argument that although childhood is done differently it also has to be similar in certain ways. “Childhood has universal features because all children, by virtue of their immaturity, have similar needs & limitations, infants are dependent on others for their physical care. An abandoned infant cannot survive.” (K. Wells 2015, page 13). Therefore although a child may be socialised differently depending on cultural, social or political forces all children have to be socialised and cared for due to their physical traits however the ways in which a child is raised may vary. In which although we must look at childhood through a global perspective as it isn’t static depending on where you look at it, children are socialised and cared for throughout the world regardless of any traits of their country. Although childhood is different for each nation changes are happening or have happened throughout the world which may make childhood universally similar. “The globalisation of childhood is attributed to the politics of knowledge construction, the colonisation of the global south and the imperialism of development aid, which valorize hegemonic, normative, ‘modern’, Western notions and understandings” (Escobar, 1997; Jones, 2004). This quote supports the argument that due to globalisation childhood is changing in regards to Western ideology and political and economic forces shape childhood throughout the world to be similar to that of the West. An example of a political force is treaties like the UN convention on the rights of the child to protect what is referred to as the ‘global child’. These treaties protect children from being casualties in war, crimes and labourers and as a result shapes countries into getting their children into schools and attempting to make a universal definition of childhood throughout the world. An article in the Guardian says that “The Taliban destroyed more than 400 of the 1,576 schools in Swat.” Khan, R (2012) from this we can gather that the Taliban that reject Western ideals has attempted to destroy schools as a way of preventing the idea of Westernised childhood. As a result the UN as well as Western nongovernmental organisations went to rebuild the schools. “There has been international and national attention placed on ensuring that all children globally are able to attend primary schools.” (Wyness, 2015, pp 70) Similar to this there was an effort in Iraq to protect schools from the Taliban which as a

result we need to understand that childhood is done differently depending on the nation and education may not be a part of their nation’s childhood. Non-Governmental organisations also put a large amount of emphasis on children and childhood when attempting to raise money. Due to our social and cultural background when we see a child in extreme poverty we feel the need to protect that child like it is our own; the idea of the ‘global child’ and non- governmental organisations exploits the sympathy of the ‘western’ idea of childhood in order to produce more donations. “Images of suffering in NGO and news media deploy well established cultural symbols that are intended to evoke some kind of conventional reaction. Images of children are themselves cultural symbols whose impact slides across thought, provoking an emotive response which forecloses political or financial calculation.” (K.Wells, 2015, pp 33) This quote backs up my idea that NGO use images of children to evoke emotion but do this due to the fact that a child is naïve of politics and economics and therefore doesn’t have any involvement in the political or financial problems brought about by issues such as war. If we look at Syria for example those fighting the government do so due to their political affiliation however a child doesn’t yet they may be a victim in the war and that’s what NGO use as a way of getting donations. Yet this doesn’t give any implications of not looking at childhood in a global perspective but instead says it’s beneficial of looking at childhood through a global north perspective as we tend to help those due to our own social and cultural thoughts and feelings. Globalisation has a negative effect on childhood as well. Due to the changes and demands of the world’s economy many children live in poverty which however forces them into labour. “Pressured by the needs for survival in the context of a market driven economy, children are engaged in exploitive paid work”. (Aitken, S. Et Al, 2008) From this we can see that globalisation has made some societies poorer and therefore childhood is affected socially. Therefore globalisation has a negative impact on childhood by producing problems as well as trying to improve the way childhood is in parts of the world. In effect, it is still important to consider childhood in a global perspective as it may be different due to cultural and political differences but these differences are sometimes produced due to globalisation. To conclude the idea of childhood as a concept around the word has to be similar due to the biology of the child as it requires care and cannot survive without it. That said many countries has different cultures which therefore affects the way in which children are raised; similar just done differently. There are many political factors affecting childhood in all parts of the world. International treaties and laws attempts to ‘Westernise’ the way in which childhood is by removing child labour and trying to get children into schools where by which schooling may not have existed previously. Nongovernmental organisations try to affect the way in which childhood is seen by making use of how it is socially constructed in the global north and generating more donations which it can use to bring care to children as well as potentially create schooling and make childhood once again ‘Westernised’. From all these factors childhood is important to look at from a global perspective as the definition of childhood isn’t static but varies between countries depending on their cultural, political or social construct of the term. A country where childhood is done differently sometimes gets deemed by the global north having been done wrong and it may be seen as cruelty to treat a child in that way. However due to globalisation and the benefits it is bringing the definition of childhood is becoming similar and the Global North’s idea of childhood is being reproduced throughout the world therefore considering childhood from a global perspective may be becoming less important throughout the years.

Bibliography Stearns, P (2005) Childhood in world history. New York: Routledge pp 43. Wells, K. (2009) Childhood in a global perspective. Second Edition. Cambridge: Polity Press. Kessen, W. (1977) Childhood in China, Pediatrics, 60 (6), pp. 937. Chakrabarti, R. (2013) BBC News. [Online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education25187993 (Accessed: 18 March 2015). The VICE Guide to North Korea (2011) Directed by Shane Smith [Videocassette]. California US: Vice Media LLC. Vaughan, J. (1993) Early Childhood Education in China, Childhood Education, 69 (4), pp. 196. Unicef. (2014) An estimated 150 million children worldwide are engaged in child labour, Child Labour [Online]. Available at: http://data.unicef.org/child-protection/child-labour#sthash.DIKpetJJ.dpuf (Accessed: 18 March 2015). Wyness, M. (2015) Childhood. Cambridge: Polity Press. pp 1-7, 70 Escobar, 1997; Jones, 2004 quoted in (Aitken, S. Et Al. (2008) Global childhoods: Globalisation, Development and young people. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon.) Khan, R. (2012) The Guardian. [Online]. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/globaldevelopment/2012/jun/26/pakistan-education-swat-valley-taliban (Accessed: 18 March 2015) Aitken, S. Et Al. (2008) Global childhoods: Globalisation, Development and young people. Routledge: Abingdon, Oxon....