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Theorising Children’s Bodies. A Critical Review of Relational Understandings in Childhood Studies

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Theorising Childhood

Part of the book series: Studies in Childhood and Youth ((SCY))

Abstract

This chapter takes a relational understanding of agency as its starting point in order to systematise up-to-date approaches to reconceptualising the body in childhood studies. Starting from the observation that childhood studies has long had difficulty with the theorisation of the body, empirical studies are presented that approach the child’s body from the perspective of science and technology studies, of practice theory and of phenomenology. The thesis of the chapter is that the yield of a theorisation of the body is not limited to this, but, at the same time, helps to overcome common dichotomies in childhood studies between childhood as a social construct and children as actors. These can be dissolved in favour of a concept of childhood that is both material and social.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hildesheim, Hildesheim, Germany

    Florian Eßer

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  1. Florian Eßer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

    Claudio Baraldi

  2. Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom

    Tom Cockburn

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Eßer, F. (2018). Theorising Children’s Bodies. A Critical Review of Relational Understandings in Childhood Studies. In: Baraldi, C., Cockburn, T. (eds) Theorising Childhood. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72673-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72673-1_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72672-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72673-1

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