
The Child and the World
Child-Soldiers and the Claim for Progress
Jana Tabak(Author)
University of Georgia Press
Published on 15. January 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
178 pages
978-0-8203-5640-2 (ISBN)
Description
However unthinkable child-soldiers may be within a generalized conception of childhood, they are not imaginary figures; rather, they are a constant in almost every armed conflict around the world. The participation of children in wars may question the idea of childhood as a "once-upon-a-time story with a happy and predictable ending," disrupting the (natural) idea of a protected and innocent childhood and also eliciting fear, uncertainty, revulsion, horror, and sorrow.
Using the perspectives of both childhood studies and critical approaches to international relations, Jana Tabak explores the constructions of child-soldiers as "children at risk" and, at the same time, risky children. More specifically, The Child and the World aims both to problematize the boundaries that articulate child-soldiers as necessarily deviant and pathological in relation to "normal" children and to show how these specific limits participate in the (re)production and promotion of a particular version of the international political order. In this sense, the focus of this work is not on investigating child-soldiers' lives and experiences per se but on their presumed threatening feature as they depart from the protected territory of childhood, disquieting everyday international life.
Using the perspectives of both childhood studies and critical approaches to international relations, Jana Tabak explores the constructions of child-soldiers as "children at risk" and, at the same time, risky children. More specifically, The Child and the World aims both to problematize the boundaries that articulate child-soldiers as necessarily deviant and pathological in relation to "normal" children and to show how these specific limits participate in the (re)production and promotion of a particular version of the international political order. In this sense, the focus of this work is not on investigating child-soldiers' lives and experiences per se but on their presumed threatening feature as they depart from the protected territory of childhood, disquieting everyday international life.
Reviews / Votes
An important discussion centering on the need to understand the diversity of child soldier experience and recognizing the agency of children themselves. -- Kate Macfarlane * Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Georgia
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
2 b&w images
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
314 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8203-5640-2 (9780820356402)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
02/2020
University of Georgia Press
€109.99
Available for download
Person
JANA TABAK is an assistant professor at the Department of International Relations at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. She is the author of Organizacoes Internacionais: Historia e Praticas, 2nd edition, ed. with Monica Herz and Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann, and Modernity at Risk: Complex Emergencies, Humanitarianism, Sovereignty, with Carlos Frederico Pereira da Gama.