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For those interested in applying for the Ph.D. or M.A. in childhood studies,
please visit the Graduate and Professional Admissions web site
at http://gradstudy.rutgers.edu/
Deadlines
For those applying for admission in the Ph.D. program applications are due January
5 of the year preceding the fall semester in which you wish to begin. For those
applying for admission in the M.A. program applications are due July 15 of
the year preceding the fall semester in which you wish to begin.
Admission Requirements
Admission to the Ph.D. Program is based on a combination of undergraduate (and
graduate, if applicable) transcripts with a minimum 3.2 GPA, GRE scores, statement
of purpose, and letters of recommendation. Admissions decisions are based on
a combination of the candidates' academic qualifications and their match with
areas of faculty expertise (these areas are described on the faculty page).
Admission to the M.A. program is based on a combination of undergraduate (and
graduate, if applicable) transcripts with a minimum 3.0 GPA, GRE scores, statement
of purpose, and letters of recommendation. Students who complete the M.A. program
and who then wish to pursue a Ph.D. must complete a separate application to the
Ph.D. program.
Financial Aid
Teaching and research assistantships, which cover tuition costs and provide stipends
for living expenses, are available on a competitive basis to students accepted
into the Ph.D. Program. Compensation and duties attached to the appointment are
governed by a contract negotiated between Rutgers University and the American
Association of University Professors. Responsibilities usually include serving
as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate course or research assistant on
a research project. Compensation is approximately $23,000 per year, plus tuition
remission and full medical benefits. Additional information financial aid can
be found here http://studentaid.rutgers.edu/default.asp
NOTE: These are general guidelines. Students should
consult the Gradate Student Handbook for detailed requirements or
contact the Graduate Studies Director.
Students in the Doctor of Philosophy in Childhood Studies degree
program enroll in a core set of courses in order to acquire the
interdisciplinary, theoretical, and methodological knowledge that
is at the heart of childhood studies. This interdisciplinary coursework
is the foundation for a series of investigations culminating in
the dissertation through which students develop their expertise
as scholars in Childhood Studies.
Throughout their studies, students in the Ph.D. program work closely
with their advisors and other members of the faculty. Prospective
students are encouraged to discuss their plans for graduate study
with members of the faculty. The doctoral program prepares both scholars
capable of innovative interdisciplinary research in childhood studies
and leaders in child-related social practice and policy.
Core Requirements
All students in Ph.D. program follow the following program of study,
with most completing the courses in two or three years, with the dissertation
completed in the fourth and or fifth years. Although the program is
intended for full-time students, part-time students are accepted into the program.
Most classes will be offered in the late afternoon and early evening. There
are four major program elements.
Approaches, Methods, Applications
The nature of Childhood Studies requires that students be equipped
with the intellectual tools necessary to engage in interdisciplinary
research focusing on children. Towards this end, 15 credits are required
in classes that acquaint students with the approaches, methods and
applications characteristic of the social sciences and the humanities.
Six of the credits for the study of interdisciplinary approaches,
methods, and applications are earned in the Proseminar in Childhood
Studies. This two-semester sequence is taken during each student's
first year. Different disciplines (psychology, sociology/criminal
justice, anthropology, history, religion, and English) serve as a
perspective for a section of the course. During each section, through
a combination of lectures, discussion and readings, students gain
knowledge of the substantive topic; they also gain a broad overview
of each discipline's methodology and an understanding of the strengths
and limitations of each discipline's approach to the problem. Toward
the end of the year, students will be guided toward an understanding
of how a given problem can be approached in an interdisciplinary manner.
Students also complete one course in quantitative social science (typically
a statistics class), qualitative social science (ethnography), and
methods in humanities (e.g., Introduction to Literary Studies).
Children in Ontogenic, Historical, and Cultural Perspective
To provide for a solid footing for interdisciplinary research, all
students complete at least six credits in courses that examine children
in context. Typically, students fulfill this requirement by enrolling
in two or more of the following classes. For course descriptions,
please see below. (LINK!)
Child Growth & Development (3 credits)
Children & Childhood in Cross-Cultural Perspective (3 credits)
Children & Media (3 credits)
Children & Migration (3 credits)
Literary & Cultural Constructions of Childhood (3 credits)
Philosophical & Religious Perspectives
Urban Education (3 credits)
Visual & Material Culture (3 credits)
Youth Identities (3 credits)
Focused Coursework in Childhood Studies
By the beginning of the second year of study, and in consultation
with her/his advisor, each student develops a plan for coursework
(minimum of 27 credits) in Childhood Studies that is the foundation
for the doctoral dissertation.
Doctoral Dissertation
Each student must complete an original dissertation research project
(minimum of 12 credits) under the supervision of a faculty advisor.
NOTE: These are general guidelines. Students should
consult the Gradate Student Handbook for detailed requirements or
contact the Graduate Studies Director.
The Master of Arts in Childhood Studies equips
practitioners and beginning scholars with the skills and knowledge
to understand and to address the challenges which confront children
throughout the world. The program prepares its graduates to conduct
research with and about children, formulate social policy on behalf
of children and their families, and work effectively with the diverse
populations of children found throughout the world
Core Requirements
Students in the M.A. program complete the following program
of study in approximately two years. Most classes will be offered
in late afternoon and early evening.
Child Growth & Development (3 credits)
One course in cultural perspectives (3 credits) Children and Childhood
in Cross-Cultural Perspective
-Or-
Literary and Cultural Constructions of Childhood (3 credits)
Disciplinary Concentrations (12 credits) Each student will choose
two concentrated areas of study, one from the disciplines in the humanities
and one from the social sciences. 6 credits must be completed in each concentration.
This will ensure grounding in two traditional fields of study.
NOTE: The following listing
of description of courses is meant for illustrative purposes to
give a sense of the range of possible courses offered. Actual course
offering will vary from year to year. Please consult the
most current
graduate course schedule (listed above in pdf format).
56:163:501 Proseminar
in Childhood Studies (6
credits)
56:163:502
This two-semester course provides an overview of paradigms and critical issues
in Childhood Studies. Researchers from within the University and around
the area present the latest research on children.
56:163:515 Child Growth
and Development (3
credits)
Development in infancy and childhood is both regulated by biological constraints
and shaped by cultural practices. This course examines the genetic underpinnings
of development, the biological changes which characterize development from birth
through early adolescence, and the environmental and social influences which
affect, and are affected by, biological changes.
56:163:520 Philosophical
and Religious Perspectives on Childhood (3 credits)
This course explores the meaning and significance of childhood in society from
a variety of philosophical and religious perspectives. The first half of the
course critically examines some of the most influential writings on childhood
in history from antiquity to modernity. We ask how these classic texts respond
to such questions as the nature of childhood, the aims of child rearing, and
responsibilities to and of children. The second half investigates some of the
central philosophical and religious issues concerning childhood today. It examines
such issues as the changing purposes of families, children’s relations
to culture, and children’s rights and political participation.
56:163:526 Historical
Research Methods (3
credits)
This course is an introduction to historical methodology and research methods.
We will discuss trends in historiography and theory – especially as they
pertain to the history of childhood – but we will always keep the hands-on
business of historical research in mind, and put it into practice as much as
possible. All of which is to say that we will ask a lot of questions about questions:
Why do historians of childhood interrogate some aspects of kids’ lives
but leave others relatively untouched? Why are we ourselves inclined to ask certain
questions about childhood and sidestep others? How do scholars select and compile
sources, and how is it possible to frame questions about those sources before
understanding their content?
Unusual for a history course, this seminar is structured around the character
of our sources and texts, and not beholden to chronology. As the semester progresses
we will move from the most private of sources, such as diaries, letters and memoires,
to ever more public sources, such as advice manuals, organizational records and
government documents.
56:163:522 Youth Identities
and Urban Ecology (3
credits)
This graduate seminar provides a forum for critically examining the identity
constructions of youth coming of age in cities, within the United States and
across the world. A central aim is to consider comparatively how social, cultural,
and physical urban ecologies shape youth development. We will investigate the
constitution of youth as student, friend, worker, daughter, and parent, paying
particular attention to how identity roles are informed by structures of race,
ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. We pay close attention to the roles
of institutional contexts such as neighborhood, school, work, family, and peer
groups. This course considers the ways in which connections (or lack thereof)
across these contexts inform youth identities and development.
56:163:531 History of
Childhood (3
credits)
How were children transformed from unsaved souls to “little savages” to
the very embodiment of innocence? When, and why, did children lose their role
as contributors to the family economy and instead become quarter-of-a-million
dollar investments (according to the US Department of Agriculture)? Why do Americans
seem obsessed with protecting their kids from illicit drugs, while at the same
time medicating them for a host of ills—from being antsy to being short?
Although this course will include material from Colonial times to the present
day, it is not so much a survey of American children’s history as an historical
investigation of the pivotal turning points in how Americans viewed their children.
Topics will include sexuality and free speech, juvenile justice and civic responsibility,
as well as kids’ relationship to families, consumer culture and medical
professionals.
56:163:551 Children and
Childhood in Cross-Cultural Perspective (3 credits)
The richness and diversity of children's development is best understood by examining
socialization norms and child-rearing practices of the world's various societies. This
course focuses on the rich anthropological literature on children in different
cultures, but considers as well cross-cultural psychological and sociological
investigations.
56:163:570 Childhood
and Migration (3
credits)
This course will examine the historical, social and political contexts of children’s
migration in the modern world. In doing so we will draw on case studies from
regions of the world including North and South America, the Mediterranean region,
northern Europe and Southern Africa to investigate the lived experience of migrant
and refugee children. The course will include examination of historical and theoretical
issues in migration, the specific challenges faced by refugee and internally
displaced children, and the challenges of developing humanitarian responses to
meet children needs.
56:163:580 Literary and
Cultural Constructions of Childhood (3
credits)
This course examines changing concepts of childhood as reflected in a range of
literary and cultural texts from a variety of cultures and periods. We
consider the representations of children and childhood throughout literature
and culture; the impact of the concept of childhood on intellectual and aesthetic
traditions; the role of childhood in imagination and memory as well as in actuality;
and the notion of childhood as a discursive category useful for understanding
human subjectivity and the human condition.
56:163:615 Using Archival
Data to Study Children (3
credits)
This course will provide students with the experiences necessary to analyze data
from publicly available data sets. Students will obtain publicly available
data sets and analyze them using SAS and SPSS in order to test hypotheses about
development and to assess the effectiveness of interventions.
56:163:630 Urban Education (3
credits)
This seminar will investigate urban schools as sites of struggle. Using sociocultural
and historical frameworks, we explore key debates in defining the purposes and
practices of education in U.S. cities. This course examines the relationship
between schools and their urban environments, looking at how schools perpetuate
or contest inequalities of opportunity, segregation, and economic disparities.
The course will also examine contemporary reform movements and the perspectives
of children and youth, exploring new directions for reimagining and recreating
urban schools.
56:163:635 Visual and
Material Cultures of Childhood (3
credits)
This seminar is both about what children see and manipulate and how they are
seen (and perhaps manipulated) by adult culture. The seminar asks each student
to look carefully and critically at representations of children and of children’s
things and to question how these images and things are constructed and what they
might mean (their ideological underpinnings). By putting image and ideology,
history and context together, we aim to attain a deeper understanding of children
and childhoods.
56:163:654 Growing Up
In Africa (3
credits)
This course examines the social, historical, and political contexts of childhood
in Africa through ethnographies, novels, and historical work. We will begin
with classic work on child socialization, examining how children learn and come
to assume certain positions through interaction with peers and adults in work,
rituals, and play. We will explore children’s roles and status within
societies in which elders are valued and powerful, and how these roles changed
with colonialism through literacy, missionization, and migration to mines, plantations,
and cities. Finally, we will look at young people’s myriad experiences
in Africa today—as soldiers, AIDS orphans, critics of the state, consumers
of modernity, and powerful but hated witches—within the context of structural
adjustment and globalization.
56:163:691 Interpretive
Research Methods (3
credits)
This course delves into the philosophical, theoretical and practical aspects
of what many call “qualitative” research methods. A number of specific
methods will be examined, with particular emphasis on researching the lives and
experiences of children.
56:163:694 Play and Play
Theory (3
credits)
This seminar examines the conceptual, social, cultural and historical contours
of play as approached by scholars in various fields of inquiry including, among
others, psychology, history, geography, anthropology and sociology. Emphasis
is placed on critically examining how thinkers conceptualize the role and meaning
of play in childhood, learning, evolution and development with an eye toward
unpacking guiding assumptions underpinning contentions regarding the nature and
value of play. Humor, games, sport, ritual and festival are among the variety
of play forms to be examined. Students are expected to bring their own problems
and projects to the class and engage in their own research in conversation with
course materials and class discussion.
56:163:695 Theories of
Childhood Studies (3
credits)
The development of Childhood Studies has been influenced by a range of disciplinary
and theoretical perspectives. In this seminar we will explore in depth salient
theoretical works emerging from diverse disciplines including philosophy, social
anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics and development studies. It will
include examining the work of mid to late 20th and 21st century authors whose
wide theoretical perspectives have had a strong and pervasive influence on the
field both in the industrialized and “developing” worlds. Key authors
to be studied include Michel Foucault, Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, Walter Benjamin,
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Aihwa Ong, Pierre Bourdieu, Richard Sennett and Judith
Butler. This course will include detailed examination and discussion of selected
texts and of their impact on the field.
56:163:700 Doctoral Dissertation (12
credits)
Each student must complete an original dissertation research project under the
supervision of a faculty advisor.
56:163:800 Matriculation
Continued (0
credits)
Continuous registration may be accomplished by enrolling for at least 3 credits
in standard course offerings, including research courses, or by enrolling in
this course for 0 credits. Students actively engaged in study toward their degree
who are using university facilities and faculty time are expected to enroll for
the appropriate credits.
TBD Children
and Media (3
credits)
This course examines relationships between children, childhood and media from
historical, cultural, social, political and psychological perspectives. Radio,
film and television along with digital media and new technologies will be examined,
as will certain types of print media. Coursework focuses on the ways in which
media have and continue to be understood both as threatening to childhood and
as liberating/empowering for children. The course will also explore extensions
of kids’ media culture into everyday life (e.g., clothing, food, education)
and the use of media by children. Students will be expected to conduct
research on a topic relevant to course materials.
Additional Graduate Classes to be Offered by Other
Departments
Focused coursework in childhood studies may be taken from several different
disciplines. In consultation with your advisor classes may be selected
from psychology, public policy, criminal justice, English, liberal studies
and history. Please visit departmental websites for current course offerings.
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