The Research Committee, Sociologie de l’enfance of the International Association of French-speaking sociologists in partnership with The Department for Research, Foresight and Statistics (French Ministry of Culture and Communication) are organizing a joint international colloquium, on the occasion of the annual meeting of sociology of childhood organised by the AISLF. The conference will last for 3 days (one day of plenary sessions, 2 days of working groups) and will be held in Paris in December 2010.
The organizers of this Conference are inviting researchers to present their work on children’s changing relationship to culture, the term child being used in its widest acceptation to encompass statutory minors (i.e. in most countries, under 18). In the social sciences, debates about the end of childhood, about adolescence and youth indicate significant interest in viewing age groups in terms of processes and sociohistorical context.
Interest in the younger age groups is relatively recent, as is the study of their relationship to culture, evident in the intense debate in this area: should we be talking about practices or cultural consumption, how are we to analyse youth cultures and those that they comprise? Both single-disciplinary approaches and cross-disciplinary perspectives are encouraged: issues concerning socialisation and the role of peers, family transmission and sibling relationships, gender issues, culture/school conflicts, etc.
Proposals should highlight the social dimensions of the relationship of children (as previously defined) to culture, through four main approaches:
- relationships to practices, objects and cultural products, and the affiliations they engender;
- the analysis of material culture;
- age issues : the transferability or uniqueness of age groups;
- issues of method, epistemology and ethics.
Focused on social sciences, the conference also welcomes multidisciplinary approaches as well as comparative and international perspectives.
The conference will thus allow a comprehensive overview of current knowledge, research and emerging issues, while confronting different approaches and reinforce the research network.
Papers can be submitted in French and English. Presentations will be 20 minutes long, followed by discussion. A limited number of grants may be available to fund conference attendance and will be allocated by the Scientific Committee.
Practical arrangements
Proposals for papers
Proposals should provide the following information:
- first name and surname, e-mail address, postal address and telephone number;
- academic or professional status, institutional affiliation;
- summary of proposed paper: 500 words maximum in either French or English (specifying the area covered, issue, data and method used)
- For those seeking financial support this should include a budget (transport and/or accommodation), as well as a letter from the candidate and from the head of research, head of department or reference university.
Dead-line for submissions
Proposals should be submitted to www.enfanceetcultures.culture.gouv.fr before the 30 April 2010.
Acceptance will be notified by email before the 1st of July 2010.
To be included in the programme, selected papers (6 000 words maximum) should be sent to the Scientific Committee before the 1st of October 2010.
Publication
After approval by the Scientific Committee, all papers presented will be put on line as drafts. A selection of articles will be published in a special printed issue of the journal Réseaux.
Scientific Committee
Gilles Brougère, Université Paris 13, France
Philippe Chantepie, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, France
Christine Detrez, Ecole normale supérieure, Lyon, France
Hervé Glévarec, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France
Ana Nunes de Almeida, Universiade Lisboa, Portugal
Sylvie Octobre, Ministère de la culture et de la communication , France
Dominique Pasquier, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France
Régine Sirota, Université Paris Descartes, France