Douleur, maladie et mort des enfants

Pain, Illness, Trauma and Death in Childhood

Call for papers

1 February 2014
University of Greenwich, Centre for the Study of Play and Recreation, with the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past and the London Network for the History of Children
Maritime Greenwich Campus, London SE10 9LS, Queen Anne 075, Queen Anne 063

Pain, illness, trauma and death are intrinsic to the shaping of childhood and to the experience of being a child. In the past, pain could be perceived as beneficial, either in forming character or bringing the subject closer to God. In the present, the enormous popularity of “misery memoirs” raises questions as to why the theme of abuse has such resonance in the twentieth and twenty-first century western world.
Topics include, but are not restricted to:

• Contributions from history, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, literary studies, psychology, philosophy, geography or health studies
• Pain, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual, including that inflicted by children
• Discipline and punishment
• Analysis of the ways changing patterns of illness shaped the experience of childhood
• Methodological approaches (such as the history of the emotions) or different sources (such as visual or material culture) for analysing the experiences of children and their carers
• Children’s experiences of war, including the First World War

Please e-mail abstracts of 250-300 words to playandrecreation@gre.ac.uk. The conference is free, but registration (via this e-mail address) is required.
Deadline: 31 December 2013