Dear All,

Could you send the following text to any networks or colleagues you think might be interested?

ESA Research Network 4. Sociology of Children and Childhood
Mid-term Symposium
May 21-23, 2014
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy

Call for Papers
Sociology of Childhood – Theorising Childhood: Citizenship, Rights, Participation

The Research Network, Sociology of Children and Childhood hereby announces the mid-term symposium which will take place in Modena (Italy) from 21st to 23rd May, 2014. The organisation of the symposium will be undertaken at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. 

The focus of the symposium will be on theorising childhood, in particular the areas of citizenship, rights and participation, exploring the different and various perspectives that can include these topics in the broader field of childhood studies and Sociology.  
This symposium follows, continues and articulates the ideas developed during the symposium in Jyväskylä (Finland) in 2012. The objective of this symposium is to invite theorising in the wide variety of contexts of citizenship, rights and participation, approaching the social studies of childhood in terms of children’s actions, children’s competences and children’s viewpoints and perspectives. 

The first day of the symposium (21st of May) will be dedicated to a public conference, with the participation of the following keynote speakers:

Hanne Warming (University of Roskilde, Denmark), on children’s global citizenship 
Karl Hanson (Kurt Bösch Institute, Sion), on children’s rights
Michal Wyness (University of Warwick) on children’s participation
Maria Herczog (chair at Family, Child and Youth, Reader at Eszterházy Károly College, member of the UN CRC Committee) on promotion of children’s rights and participation 

The second and third days of the symposium will be dedicated to paper sessions. Although the focus of the first day of the symposium is around theorising childhood citizenship, rights and participation, the call general Call for Papers is open to core theoretical areas of the sociology of childhood. 
We therefore invite experienced and young researchers from various disciplines sensitive to the sociology of childhood to participate. Although presentations and discussions will mainly revolve around theorising, participants are welcome to discuss theoretical implications for interdisciplinary work on childhood. Presentations can be related to the following areas:
1.	Classical sociological theories and new directions in sociological theories of childhood 
2.	The concepts of temporality and spatiality in theorising childhood
3.	Theorisations of cultural identity and (global) citizenship applied to children
4.	Theories of rights, inequalities and injustices in childhood
5.	Theories of children’s participation in institutional and informal contexts
6.	Theorisations around gender and ethnicity applied to children
7.	The role of theory in interdisciplinary work on childhood 

There will be no conference fees. The number of delegates will be restricted to 30 to enable discussion. The papers will be selected according to relevance to the areas of the symposium. 

Instructions

The abstracts must be written in English in no more than 400 words, and include 3-5 keywords. Please submit your abstract and full contact details as electronic files no later than the 15th February 2014. Send the abstract to Tom Cockburn ([log in to unmask]). 
The deadline for notification for abstracts is 15st March 2014.

For further details on the symposium please contact Tom Cockburn ([log in to unmask]) on +44 1274 233517.