18-19 Sept 2008 – 'African Children in Focus: A Paradigm Shift in Methodology and Theory? Interdisciplinary Conference', Leiden, Netherlands.

"From the late 1990's onwards, the research of children and childhoods has gradually become a topic of study in the social sciences. Children have increasingly come into the limelight as culture makers and not just as extensions to the study of adults. At the same time, African children have remained in the margins of such studies despite the fact that over forty percent of Africans are under the age of fifteen. African children are commonly depicted as victims of war, poverty and illness. This conference aims to provide a platform for qualitative studies on African children, paying attention to children's own perspectives, agencies and interdependencies. The conference query centralizes around methodological approaches and theories and wishes to initiate discussions on the following questions:
a) What (interdisciplinary) methodological approaches are best suited to research with children?
b) What theoretical innovations and perspectives emerge from the study of children?

Papers of case studies with African children are welcome, but a reflection on the above questions is required. A selection of papers will be published. The conference is organised by the Netherlands African Studies. (…) The conference language is English."

Conference Organising Committee: Sandra Evers (VU) and Catrien Notermans (RU),
NVAS, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, Netherlands. E-mail:
[email][email protected]