 |
 |
RGS-IBG annual conference, London, September 1 - 3 2010 Call for Papers Citizens-in-becoming? New spaces of parenting, early childhood and welfare Sponsored by the Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group and proposed for sponsorship by the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group Convenors: Ellie Jupp (Oxford Brookes University) and Phoebe Foy-Phillips (University of Reading) It has been recognised that babies, young children and parenting now occupy new positions within social policy regimes and media discourses (Lister 2006). This session proposes to explore empirically some of the spaces which these shifts frame, in which areas of everyday and domestic life overlap with policy imperatives and media representations. For example, the UK government is currently developing a =91Sure Start Children=92s Centre=92 in every neighbourhood, providing a range of servi= ces to the under-fives and their families. Described as =91the new frontier = of the welfare state=92 (Whalley 2006), they operate in modes associated wit= h informal community organising yet also seek to achieve particular policy goals, as part of current policy imperatives around the =91co-production=92= of public services (Pemberton and Mason 2008) . Elsewhere, Early Years education and childcare provision, including that provided by childminders, must now operate within the structured framework of the Early Years Foundation Stage (DCSF 2009). At the same time, in television, print media and online media, parenting practices are increasingly staged as both entertainment and education, intersecting uneasily with such government interventions (Gill and Jensen 2008). The everyday geographies of babies, childcare and parenting might therefore be seen as coming under increasing pressure from the =91mediate= d intimacies=92 (Gill 2009) of these representations. Indeed critical soci= al policy accounts have seen current policy regimes as attempts to shape =91citizen-workers-in-becoming=92 (Lister 2005, Clarke 2006) rather than responding to the needs of young children in the here-and-now. However other recent research has attended to the possibilities for empowerment and collective care which such spaces might nonetheless provide, from Sure Start Children=92s Centres (Horton and Kratfl 2009) to the =91limina= l=92 spaces of online forums around parenting (Madge and O=92Connor 2005, Orga= d 2006). This session proposes to bring together research which engages with the everyday practices and emotional, embodied encounters which make up these new spaces of parenting and young children. It hopes to develop nuanced accounts of their everyday geographies and potentialities as well as ask critical questions about the power of policy and media discourses and the particular inclusions/exclusions shaped. Papers might tackle one or more of the following themes: - New geographies of childcare and parenting, relating to locality or other kind of community (eg online spaces) - Critical accounts of policy regimes around early years and parenting - Engagements with the everyday geographies of particular spaces (eg Sure Start Centres, childcare providers) - Critical accounts of media discourses and representations around paren= ting - The politics and spaces of particular parenting practices and how these have changed over time (eg practices around feeding and sleeping). Please send all enquires and completed abstracts to Ellie Jupp ([log in to unmask]) and Phoebe Foy-Phillips ([log in to unmask]) by Friday 12th February 2010. When submitting your abstract please ensure you include the following information: name; institutional affiliation and contact email; title of proposed paper; abstract (no more than 250 words) and any technical requirements.