The Histories of Home Subject Specialist Network (SSN) invites papers for the Third Annual SSN Conference, Children at Home, to be held at the Geffrye Museum in London on Friday 18 March 2011.
While childhood itself has been the subject of scholarly interest, relatively little has been written on the place of children within the home, their position within the household and their lived experience of home. This conference therefore aims to bring together historical and contemporary research examining children’s senses of home and belonging, their familial/household relationships and their use of space within the home, as well as their material culture.
In keeping with the ethos of the SSN, the conference will consider children’s experiences at home from an interdisciplinary perspective and we are keen to encourage submissions from academics and museum practitioners alike.
We invite proposals for 25-minute papers on themes that might include (but are not limited to):
- children’s material culture at home – children as consumers of domestic goods and toys, design for children’s goods and spaces, children’s use of new technologies at home such as the internet and gaming
- children’s experiences in the home – children’s use of space within the home, rules and negotiating processes, their place within the family/household, parenting, childcare, play, work, education, celebration and the home as unsafe site
- changing concepts of childhood in relation to children and home
- representations of children and home in photography, art, film and literature
- children and institutional homes
- children, home and spatial mobility – migration, evacuation, second homes, extended families
Proposals
Please submit proposals, including title, abstract (of 200-300 words) and a brief biographical statement (c.100 words) by 13 December 2010 to:
Krisztina Lackoi
SSN Co-ordinator
klackoi@geffrye-museum.org.uk
Geffrye Museum
Kingsland Road
London, E2 8EA
Participants will be notified of the acceptance of papers by mid-January 2011. Papers from the conference may form the basis for an edited volume.