Critical Childhood Studies and the Practice of Interdisciplinarity

by Joanne Faulkner, Kylie Valentine (Contributor), Elizabeth Drumm (Contributor)

This book analyzes different figurations of childhood in contemporary culture and politics with a particular focus on interdisciplinary methodologies of critical childhood studies. It argues that while the figure of the child has been traditionally located at the peripheries of academic disciplines, perhaps most notably in history, sociology and literature, the proposed critical discussions of the ideological, symbolic and affective roles that children play in contemporary societies suggest that they are often the locus of larger societal crises, collective psychic tensions, and unspoken prohibitions and taboos. As such, this book brings into focus the prejudices against childhood embedded in our standard approaches to organizing knowledge, and is there a natural disciplinary home for the study of childhood? Or is this field fundamentally interdisciplinary, peripheral or problematic to notions of disciplinary identity? In this respect, does childhood force innovation in thinking about disciplinarity? For instance, how does the analysis of childhood affect how we think about methodology? What role do understandings of childhood play in delimiting how we conceive of our society, our future, and ourselves? How does thinking about childhood affect how we think about culture, history, and politics?

This book brings together researchers working broadly in critical child studies, but from various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences (including philosophy, literary studies, sociology, cultural studies and history), in order to stage a conversation between these diverse perspectives on the disciplinary or (interdisciplinary) character of ‘the child’ as an object of research. Such conversation builds on the assumption that childhood, far from being marginal, is a topic that is hidden in plain sight. That is to say, while the child is always a presence in culture, history, literature and philosophy—and is often even a highly charged figure within those fields—its operation and effects are rarely theoretically scrutinized, but rather are more likely drawn upon, surreptitiously, for another purpose.

190 pages, Paperback

Published July 25, 2019

About the author

Joanne Faulkner is a Shiatsu practitioner specializing in the energy of food in Traditional Chinese Medicine and runs a busy Shiatsu practice in Dublin, Ireland. Her Shiatsu & Conscious Cooking Demonstrations and Cookery Retreats regularly sell out. Currently she serves as Chairperson of the Shiatsu Society of Ireland, ensuring the standards of Shiatsu practice in Ireland. Blogging regularly on her food and health focused website www.joannefaulkner.ie, she is a published author of “Shiatsu & the Art of Conscious Cooking”: a modern cookbook full of recipes, ancient traditional medicine, acupressure points and meditations.

“Good Food, Better Sex” is the second book in the series of Conscious Cook Books. Both books give a unique understanding of how to use Food as Medicine. Joanne shares recipes that have health benefits, but more than that she illustrates how we can love and cherish ourselves with food.

Joanne, with her unique and extensive understanding of Chinese Medicine, explains this traditional approach to healing with food by using everyday ingredients in the modern kitchen. She makes the ancient system of Yin Yang with connected flavours, seasons, emotions and organs seem simple. Many systems borrow from this tradition, with Joanne you understand the foundation.