Abstract
Today’s children are growing up in an age of global environmental concern yet amidst important differences in household, regional- and country-level exposures to environmental hazards. This chapter draws on data generated through multi-method PhD research in varied socio-economic contexts within India and England to analyse the discursive and embodied ways that children come into contact with, make sense of and assess their agency to address “global” environmental concerns in situated contexts. It argues that children’s situated experiences and interpretations trouble a binary between global and local concerns, demonstrating how forms of environmental vulnerability map onto wider socio-spatial vulnerabilities while revealing overarching similarities in the ways that children’s structural positioning affects their agency to speak and act. The chapter presents children’s local-global environmental concerns as an area of enquiry with ample potential to progress what Punch (Glob Stud Child 6(3):352–364, 2016) describes as “cross-world” childhood scholarship.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This chapter uses the terms minority/majority world to refer to rich and poor nations in comparative global context. These terms acknowledge that the majority of the global population are politically and economically disadvantaged in relation to a minority of countries and elites within countries (Punch 2016).
- 2.
The PhD study outlined in this chapter and the Family Lives and the Environment (FLE) study in which it was embedded were funded by the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) as part of Narratives of Varied Everyday Lives and Linked Approaches (NOVELLA; ESRC number RES-576-25-0053). NOVELLA comprised a number of projects aimed to develop narrative and linked approaches to the study of everyday family life. See www.novella.ac.uk for details. The PhD was supervised by Professors Ann Phoenix and Janet Boddy, and its design and intellectual framing owe much to how Ann and Janet designed and led NOVELLA (on which Ann was Principal Investigator) and FLE (on which Janet was Principal Investigator and Ann was a Co-investigator). The data presented and analysed in this chapter were generated by a team of researchers in England and India, of which I was a part. The other researchers who worked on FLE to generate and analyse data were Helen Austerberry, Janet Boddy, Hanan Hauari, Madhavi Latha, Ann Phoenix, Natasha Shukla and Uma Vennam. Thanks to the participants who so generously gave their time, energy and imagination to the research.
- 3.
Young Lives is a longitudinal, mixed-method study investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty amongst 12,000 children in Ethiopia, Peru, Vietnam and India (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana). Young Lives is core funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) from 2001 to 2017, Irish Aid from 2014 to 2015 and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2010 to 2014. See www.younglives.org.uk for details.
- 4.
Data extracts in bold denote that they have been translated from Telugu or Hindi, whilst plain text denotes original English speech. Underlined text denotes emphasis, whilst open square brackets denote overlapping speech.
- 5.
For a report of snake fatalities in India highlighting high prevalence in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana states, see M. Sai Gopal. (2014) ‘Snake-bite deaths highest in AP, Telangana’. The Hindu. Available at: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/snakebite-deaths-highest-in-ap-telangana/article6401766.ece (25/10/17).
- 6.
Mamatha’s community was one of the many “un-notified” slums in Hyderabad. In Hyderabad, as in other Indian cities, official government “notification” is necessary for communities to become eligible for “slum-upgrading” schemes, meaning that many inhabitants of informal areas are excluded from programmes designed to improve conditions for the urban poor (Joshi et al. 2011).
References
Alanen, L. (2009). Generational Order. In J. Qvortrup, W. A. Corsaro, & M.-S. Honig (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Childhood Studies (pp. 159–174). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Alderson, P. (2015). The Politics of Childhoods Real and Imagined: Practical Application of Childhood Studies and Critical Realism. Abingdon: Routledge.
Ananthapadmanabhan, G., Srinivas, K., & Vinuta, G. (2007). Hiding Behind the Poor: A Report by Greenpeace on Climate Injustice. Bangalore: Greenpeace India.
Ansell, N. (2009). Childhood and the Politics of Scale: Descaling Children’s Geographies? Progress in Human Geography, 33(2), 190–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132508090980.
Ansell, N., & van Blerk, L. (2007). Doing and Belonging: Toward a More-Than-Representational Account of Young Migrant Identities in Lesotho and Malawi. In R. Panelli, S. Punch, & E. Robson (Eds.), Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth (pp. 17–28). Abingdon: Routledge.
Balagopalan, S. (2011). Introduction: Children’s Lives and the Indian Context. Childhood, 18(3), 291–297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568211413369.
Byrne, J., Ideland, M., Malmberg, C., & Grace, M. (2014). Climate Change and Everyday Life: Repertoires Children Use to Negotiate a Socio-Scientific Issue. International Journal of Science Education, 36(9), 1491–1509. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2014.891159.
Fernandes, L. (2009). The Political Economy of Lifestyle: Consumption, India’s New Middle Class and State-Led Development. In H. Lange & L. Meier (Eds.), The New Middle Classes: Globalising Lifestyles, Consumerism and Environmental Concern (pp. 219–236). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Haines, A., Kovats, R. S., Campbell-Lendrum, D., & Corvalan, C. (2006). Climate Change and Human Health: Impacts, Vulnerability and Public Health. Public Health, 120(7), 585–596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2006.01.002.
Haraway, D. J. (1991). Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. In D. J. Haraway (Ed.), Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature (pp. 183–201). London: Free Association.
Hayward, B. (2012). Children, Citizenship and Environment: Nurturing a Democratic Imagination in a Changing World. Abingdon: Routledge.
Holloway, S. L., & Valentine, G. (2000). Spatiality and the New Social Studies of Childhood. Sociology, 34(4), 763–783. https://doi.org/10.1177/S0038038500000468.
Holt, L., & Holloway, S. L. (2006). Editorial: Theorising Other Childhoods in a Globalised World. Children’s Geographies, 4(2), 135–142. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280600806817.
James, A. L. (2010). Competition or Integration? The Next Step in Childhood Studies. Childhood, 17(4), 485–499. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568209350783.
Jamieson, L. (2016). Families, Relationships and “Environment”: (Un)sustainability, Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss. Families, Relationships and Societies, 5(3), 335–255. https://doi.org/10.1332/204674316X14758387773007.
Jamieson, L., & Milne, S. (2012). Children and Young People’s Relationships, Relational Processes and Social Change: Reading Across Worlds. Children’s Geographies, 10(3), 265–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2012.693377.
Joshi, D., Fawcett, B., & Mannan, F. (2011). Health, Hygiene and Appropriate Sanitation: Experiences and Perceptions of the Urban Poor. Environment and Urbanization, 23(1), 91–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247811398602.
Kraftl, P. (2013). Beyond “Voice”, Beyond “Agency”, Beyond “Politics”? Hybrid Childhoods and Some Critical Reflections on Children’s Emotional Geographies. Emotion, Space and Society, 9(0), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2013.01.004.
Lansdown, G. (2010). The Realisation of Children’s Participation Rights: Critical Reflections. In B. Percy-Smith & N. Thomas (Eds.), A Handbook of Children and Young People’s Participation: Perspectives from Theory and Practice (pp. 11–23). Routledge: Abingdon.
Lee, N. (2013). Childhood and Biopolitics: Climate Change, Life Processes and Human Futures. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mannheim, K. (1952 [1923]). The Problem of the Generations. In P. Kecskemeti (Ed.), Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge (pp. 276–320). London: Routledge/Kegan Paul.
Manteaw, B. (2009). Living On and Off the Environment: Educating for Sustainable Development in an Unequal World. In D. B. Zandvliet (Ed.), Diversity in Environmental Education Research (pp. 159–175). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Mayall, B. (2002). Towards a Sociology for Childhood. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Oswell, D. (2013). The Agency of Children: From Family to Global Human Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Panelli, R., Punch, S., & Robson, E. (2007). From Difference to Dialogue: Conceptualising Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth. In R. Panelli, S. Punch, & E. Robson (Eds.), Global Perspectives on Rural Childhood and Youth (pp. 1–13). Abingdon: Routledge.
Peet, R., Robbins, P., & Watts, M. (2011). Global Nature. In R. Peet, P. Robbins, & M. Watts (Eds.), Global Political Ecology (pp. 1–47). Abingdon: Routledge.
Phoenix, A. (2013). Analysing Narrative Contexts. In M. Andrews, C. Squire, & M. Tamboukou (Eds.), Doing Narrative Research (2nd ed., pp. 72–87). London: Sage.
Preston, I., White, V., Thumin, J., Bridgeman, T., & Brand, C. (2013). Distribution of Carbon Emissions in the UK: Implications for UK Energy Policy. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Prout, A. (2005). The Future of Childhood: Towards the Interdisciplinary Study of Children. Abingdon: Routledge Falmer.
Punch, S. (2016). Cross-World and Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue: A More Integrated, Global Approach to Childhood Studies. Global Studies of Childhood, 6(3), 352–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043610616665033.
Qvortrup, J. (2005). Varieties of Childhood. In J. Qvortrup (Ed.), Studies in Modern Childhood: Society, Agency, Culture (pp. 1–20). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Richards, S., Clark, J., & Boggis, A. (2015). Ethical Research with Children: Untold Narratives and Taboos. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Satchwell, C. (2013). ‘Carbon Literacy Practices’: Textual Footprints Between School and Home in Children’s Construction of Knowledge About Climate Change. Local Environment, 18(3), 289–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.688735.
Shiva, V. (2006). Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace. London: Zed Books.
Squire, C., Andrews, M., & Tamboukou, M. (2013). Introduction: What Is Narrative Research? In M. Andrews, C. Squire, & M. Tamboukou (Eds.), Doing Narrative Research (2nd ed., pp. 1–26). London: Sage.
Stephens, C. (1996). Healthy Cities or Unhealthy Islands? The Health and Social Implications of Urban Inequality. Environment and Urbanization, 8(2), 9–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/095624789600800211.
Threadgold, S. (2012). “I Reckon My Life Will Be Easy, but My Kids Will Be Buggered”: Ambivalence in Young People’s Positive Perceptions of Individual Futures and Their Visions of Environmental Collapse. Journal of Youth Studies, 15(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2011.618490.
Tisdall, E. K. M., & Punch, S. (2012). Not So “New”? Looking Critically at Childhood Studies. Children’s Geographies, 10(3), 249–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2012.693376.
United Nations. (2014). How the UN System Supports Ambitious Action on Climate Change. Retrieved from http://www.unsceb.org/content/how-un-system-supports-ambitious-action-climate-change
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) UK. (2013). Climate Change: Children’s Challenge. London: United Nations Children’s Fund.
United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). (no date). Education for Sustainable Development: Three Terms and One Goal. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/three-terms-one-goal/
Uzzell, D. (1999). Education for Environmental Action in the Community: New Roles and Relationships. Cambridge Journal of Education, 29(3), 397–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305764990290309.
Walker, C. (2017). Tomorrow’s Leaders and Today’s Agents of Change? Children, Sustainability Education and Environmental Governance. Children and Society, 31(1), 72–83. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12192.
Wilson, S. J., & Snell, C. (2010). “Bad for the Penguins Because They Need Ice and That to Live On”: An Exploratory Study into the Environmental Views, Concerns and Knowledge of Socially Disadvantaged Young People. Journal of Youth Studies, 13(2), 151–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/1367626090323370.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Walker, C. (2019). Environment and Children’s Everyday Lives in India and England: Exploring Children’s Situated Perspectives on Global-Local Environmental Concerns. In: Twum-Danso Imoh, A., Bourdillon, M., Meichsner, S. (eds) Global Childhoods beyond the North-South Divide. Palgrave Studies on Children and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95543-8_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95543-8_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-95542-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-95543-8
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)