The new updated edition of Children, Youth and Development explores the varied ways in which global processes in the form of development policies, economic and cultural globalisation, and international agreements interact with more locally specific practices to shape the lives of young people living in the poorer regions of the world. It examines these processes, and the effects they have on young people’s lives, in relation to developing theoretical approaches to the study of children and youth.
This landmark title brings together the stock of knowledge and approaches to understanding young people’s lives in the context of development and globalization in the majority world for the first time. It introduces different theoretical approaches to the study of young people, and explores the ways in which these, along with predominantly Western conceptions of childhood and youth, have influenced how majority world children have been viewed and treated by international agencies. Contexts of globalisation and growing international inequality are explored, alongside more immediate contexts such as family and peer relationships. Chapters are devoted to groups of children deemed to be in need of protection and to debates concerning children’s rights and their participation in development projects. Young people’s health and education are considered, as is their involvement in work of various kinds, and the impacts of environmental change and hazards (including climate change). The book introduces material and concepts to readers in a very accessible way and within each chapter employs features such as boxed case studies, summaries of key ideas, discussion questions and guides to further resources.
This edition has been updated to take account of significant changes in the contexts in which poor children grow up, notably the financial crisis and changing development policy environment, as well as recent theoretical developments. It is aimed at students on higher level undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as researchers who are unfamiliar with this area of research and practitioners in organisations working to ameliorate the lives of children in majority world countries.
List of figures
List of tables
List of boxes
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1 Globalising models of childhood and youth
2 Experiencing global processes: poverty and inequality; development and globalisation
3 Immediate contexts: growing up with families and peers in a changing world
4 Protecting children? Addressing violence, exploitation and abuse
5 The politics of young people: rights, participation, activism
6 Health: ensuring survival and wellbeing?
7 Education: encounters with schooling
8 Work: exploiting children, empowering youth?
9 Changing environments: threats and opportunities
10 Migration: young people on the move
Postscript
Biography
Nicola Ansell is a Reader in Human Geography at Brunel University.
"This second edition of Children, Youth and Development brings us an excellent synthesis of knowledge on young people’s encounters with development processes in diverse social, cultural, economic, political, spatial and institutional contexts. The book is written with exceptional analytical clarity, consisting of up-to-date and engaging debates, figures and boxed illustrations that are valuable for postgraduate students, scholars and practitioners embarking on the burgeoning fields of childhood studies, youth studies and development studies."
Tatek Abebe, Associate Professor and Programme Leader of MPhil in Childhood Studies, Norwegian Center for Child Research, Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology, Norway
"A much needed second edition; updated and expanded. By revisiting old debates and introducing new ones Ansell critically discusses the situation of children and young people in diverse contexts of development at the start of the SDG era and in relation to an increasingly multi-polar world."
Roy Huijsmans, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
"This well-written and accessible revised text provides an up-to-date comprehensive overview of children and young people’s experiences in the majority of the world. Excellent case studies illustrate the diverse ways that development processes impact upon childhoods and youth in globalising contexts."
Professor Samantha Punch, School of Social Sciences, University of Stirling, UK
Praise for the first edition:
'Children, Youth and Development provides a groundbreaking look at the complex and diverse ways in which children and young people are affected by and play a role in global economic, social and political processes.' – Sarah J. Halvorson, University of Montana, USA
'Children, Youth and Development provides a compendium of extremely useful and well evidenced information to challenge assumptions, and a thorough picture of how it is to be a child/young person today in the world.' – Jo Trelfa, College of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth, UK
