Children Framing Childhoods : Working-Class Kids’ Visions of Care

Urban educational research, practice, and policy is preoccupied with problems, brokenness, stigma, and blame. As a result, too many people are unable to recognize the capacities and desires of children and youth growing up in working-class communities. This book offers an alternative angle of vision—animated by young people's own photographs, videos, and perspectives over time. It shows how a racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse community of young people in Worcester, MA used cameras at different ages (10, 12, 16 and 18) to capture and value the centrality of care in their lives, homes, and classrooms. Luttrell's immersive, creative, and layered analysis of the young people's images and narratives boldly refutes biased assumptions about working-class childhoods and re-envisions schools as inclusive, imaginative, and care-ful spaces. With an accompanying website featuring additional digital resources (childrenframingchildhoods.com), this book challenges us to see differently and, thus, set our sights on a better future.|Urban educational research, practice, and policy is preoccupied with problems, brokenness, stigma, and blame. As a result, too many people are unable to recognize the capacities and desires of children and youth growing up in working-class communities. This book offers an alternative angle of vision—animated by young people's own photographs, videos, and perspectives over time. It shows how a racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse community of young people in Worcester, MA used cameras at different ages (10, 12, 16 and 18) to capture and value the centrality of care in their lives, homes, and classrooms. Luttrell's immersive, creative, and layered analysis of the young people's images and narratives boldly refutes biased assumptions about working-class childhoods and re-envisions schools as inclusive, imaginative, and care-ful spaces. With an accompanying website featuring additional digital resources (childrenframingchildhoods.com), this book challenges us to see differently and, thus, set our sights on a better future. Urban educational research, practice and policy is preoccupied with problems, brokenness, stigma and blame. As a result, too many people are unable to recognize the capacities and desires of children and youth growing up in working-class and immigrant communities. Based on an original longitudinal study and offering a critical visual methodology of “collaborative seeing", this book shows how a racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse community of young people in Worcester, MA used cameras at different ages (10, 12, 16, 18) to capture the centrality of care in their lives, homes and classrooms. This truly unique book enables children to be the authors of their own narratives and issue an explicit challenge to the dominant deficit and damage-based ways of seeing working-class childhoods.Urban educational research, practice and policy is preoccupied with problems, brokenness, stigma and blame. As a result, too many people are unable to recognize the capacities and desires of children and youth growing up in working-class and immigrant communities. Based on an original longitudinal study and offering a critical visual methodology of “collaborative seeing", this book shows how a racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse community of young people in Worcester, MA used cameras at different ages (10, 12, 16, 18) to capture the centrality of care in their lives, homes and classrooms. This truly unique book enables children to be the authors of their own narratives and issue an explicit challenge to the dominant deficit and damage-based ways of seeing working-class childhoods "Urban educational research, practice, and policy is preoccupied with problems, brokenness, stigma, and blame. As a result, too many people are unable to recognize the capacities and desires of children and youth growing up in working-class communities. This book offers an alternative angle of vision--animated by young people's own photographs, videos, and perspectives over time. It shows how a racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse community of young people in Worcester, MA used cameras at different ages (10, 12, 16 and 18) to capture and value the centrality of care in their lives, homes, and classrooms. Luttrell's immersive, creative, and layered analysis of the young people's images and narratives boldly refutes biased assumptions about working-class childhoods and re-envisions schools as inclusive, imaginative, and careful spaces. With an accompanying website featuring additional digital resources (childrenframingchildhoods.com), this book challenges us to see differently and, thus, set our sights on a better future."-- From Amazon Front cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Notes on digital and visual elements List of figures and tables Acknowledgments Prelude: Worcester, Massachusetts, Fall, 2003 Digital Interlude #1: Dwelling in School 1. Ways of seeing diverse working-class children and childhoods 2. The everyday politics of belonging/s 3. Motherhood, childhood, and love labor in family choreographies of care Digital Interlude #2: Feeding the Family 4. School choreographies of care: being seen, safe, and believed Digital Interlude #3: Nice...? 5. That’s (not) me now: development, identity, and being in time Digital Interlude #4: Being in Time 6. The freedom to care Postlude: Notes on reflexive methods: past, present, and future Digital Interlude #5: Collaborative Seeing Appendix Notes References Index Back cover Urban educational research, practice and policy is preoccupied with problems, brokenness, stigma and blame. As a result, too many people are unable to recognize the capacities and desires of children and youth growing up in working-class and immigrant communities. Based on an original longitudinal study and offering a critical visual methodology of collaborative seeing, this book shows how a racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse community of young people in Worcester, MA, used cameras at different ages (10, 12, 16, and 18) to capture the centrality of care in their lives, homes and classrooms. Children Framing Childhoods enables children to be the authors of their own narratives and issue an explicit challenge to the dominant deficit and damage-based ways of seeing working-class childhoods Based on a unique longitudinal study and offering a critical visual methodology of 'collaborative seeing', this text shows how a diverse community of young people in Worcester, MA used cameras at different ages (10, 12, 16, 18) to capture the centrality of care in their lives, homes and classrooms