Rutgers-Camden Childhood Studies Faculty in the News

Baby Books Become Research Resource
The extensive 1,300-volume collection of Baby books at UCLA spans 138 years of history, and represents the only one of its kind. It is particularly valuable because of its large scale, and researchers from across the country often frequent it… “It just keeps growing, and I just have to keep going back,” said Dr. Janet Golden, a Rutgers University professor who is writing a medical history of babies under the age of 1. Golden, who often flies to UCLA to visit the collection, said she discovered much about the changing social norms throughout history while doing her research.>>> read the full article


Dr. Cati Coe (associate professor, CFAS-sociology) has published a chapter, “Domestic Violence and Child Circulation in the Southeastern Gold Coast, 1905-1928,” in the edited collection Domestic Violence and the Law in Colonial and Postcolonial Africa (Ohio University Press).  She also delivered an invited talk, “Children’s (Im)mobilities: The Effects of Transnational Migration on Children’s Circulation in Ghanaian Households,” at the Drexel University Center for Mobilities Research and Policy.

Dr. Cindy Dell Clarke (visiting associate professor, CFAS-sociology) has authored a new book, In A Younger Voice: Doing Child-Centered Qualitative Research (Oxford University Press).   More information about the book is online at https://global.oup.com/academic/product/in-a-younger-voice-9780195376593?q=A%20Younger%20Voice:%20Doing%20Child-Centered%20Qualitative%20Research&cc=us&lang=en

Migrant Children Displaced by Poverty and War
Over the last two decades, unprecedented numbers of refugee children have fled their countries, seeking asylum from poverty and conflict.  Some find a better life.  Others disappear.  Dr. Charles Watters, a professor of childhood studies at Rutgers–Camden, says refugee children are a global issue…. “We’re looking at millions of children around the world who are displaced.” >>> read the full article

Newly Formed History of Childhood Journal Nominated for Major Award
Still in its infancy, the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth is already receiving accolades. The publication devoted to the historical experiences of children and young people throughout the ages and from all over the world benefits from the knowledge of a scholar at Rutgers–Camden, the home of the nation’s first PhD program in the emerging discipline.
Dr. Susan Miller, an assistant professor of childhood studies in Camden, serves as book review editor for the journal founded by the Society for the History of Children and Youth in 2008. >>> read the full article


How the Haunted Holiday Dulled its Horror Edge
For scholars studying American childhood, there’s much to be learned by examining how families observe those special days, like birthdays and Halloween.  
According to Dr. Dan Cook, a childhood studies scholar at Rutgers-Camden, these special days, much like Christmas, give children an opportunity to express their wishes with many parents actively encouraging them to do so…. Halloween has dulled its horror edge as many costumes are little more than extensions of already established toy lines or television shows which children don most any day of the year. So if a plethora of princesses and superheroes knock on your door this October 31, you’ll know why. >>> read the full article


How Childhood Studies Influence Moral Thinking
In his new book, Ethics in Light of Childhood (Georgetown University Press, 2010), Dr. John Wall, a CCCS associate and associate professor of philosophy and religion at Rutgers–Camden, says viewing moral issues from a child’s perspective could change ethical thinking. “The experiences of children need to become new lenses for interpreting what it means to exist, to live good lives, and to form communities – for the sake of children and adults both,” Wall writes in the book’s introduction. >>> read the full article