Jointly published by CLPN (the Childhood, Law & Policy Network) and CCYSC (the Critical Childhoods and Youth Studies Collective).
Edited by our members Adrienne Lee Atterberry (Union College, US) and Karina Ruiz (University of California Santa Cruz, US).
( Source: Wikimedia Commons )
Call for papers - Childhood and Migration [PDF 61KB]
Children – along with their parents, extended family members, and other caretakers – have always migrated. Their circumstances and motivations, however, have changed drastically over the past century.
For some, climate change, war, poverty, and violence severely affect daily life, to the point that they are compelled to migrate. These children, sometimes with the support of their families, may use the services of human smugglers to complete harrowing journeys by land or sea in search of better living conditions. Those whose journeys include crossing international borders often encounter resistance by destination countries, which seek to reaffirm tight border controls to clearly demarcate citizens from “unwanted outsiders”.
For others, the decision to migrate may be better conceptualized as a ‘choice.’ A segment of this group may migrate because of family mobility strategies that necessitate migration to increase social, educational, and professional opportunities for all family members. For children coming from educated and affluent families that ‘choose’ to migrate, their migration journey is often supported by neoliberal state policies that actively seek to recruit skilled and educated workers into their countries. The relatively warm reception these children encounter in their country of migration, and their parents’ ample personal resources (such as money and social connections), facilitate a comparatively smooth relocation process.
Still, there are children whose migration stories fall outside of these two broad typologies.
Importantly, migration processes impact children even when they are not the ones directly involved in relocating. The extant literature alludes to how factors as diverse and interconnected as the educational and financial resources available within an immigrant family, family separation and reunification processes, and parents’ immigration histories can impact the types of extracurricular activities children engage in, how they integrate into their parents’ country of migration, and their schooling experiences.
These early experiences with migration can have significant ripple effects well into later stages of life.
Owing to children’s important role in shaping family migration decisions, their prominent position as independent migrants, and the growing literature on how transnational family life impacts children, this blog series aims to draw further attention to the interconnections between childhood and migration.
For this series, we seek submissions from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives on topics that include, but are not limited to:
Submissions should be between 700-800 words in length, and written in English using plain language appropriate to an international audience. Submissions should utilize multimodal content inclusive of hyperlinks and images that would be appropriate for an online platform.
The purpose of the blog is to amplify diverse voices on the theme of childhood and migration, with a particular focus on Global South perspectives (broadly conceived). We especially welcome submissions from early-career researchers in the Global South and/or who do research on the Global South. Additionally, this series invites submissions that engage in various approaches to academic writing – including those outside the norms of the Western academic tradition.
Submissions are currently open and will remain open until 31 January 2024. We will confirm receipt of submissions on a rolling basis, and will make decisions on all submissions by March 2024. Posts will go live starting in May 2024.
If you would like to communicate with us about your idea for a blog post, then feel free to reach us at childhoodandmigration@gmail.com. We are open to a variety of topics related to childhood and migration, and look forward to receiving your work!