South American Childhoods: Neoliberalisation and Children’s Rights since the 1990s (Studies in Childhood and Youth)

This edited volume concerns childhood throughout South America after the 1990s, a period and territory of special complexity marked by the beginning--or intensification of--political neoliberalisation throughout the region. The decade also saw the ratification of the International Convention on Rights of the Child and post-dictatorial processes of political and social democratisation. The editors of this book explore the tension this juxtaposition has generated between logics and processes of dissimilar orientations. Within this framework, chapters investigate the neoliberalisation and institutionalisation of children's rights and consider similarities and differences with respect to other regions. They also explore changes in schools and educational systems, as well as the phenomenon of the internal and external child and family migration Foreword Praise for South American Childhoods Contents Notes on Contributors 1 South American Childhoods Since the 1990s: Between Neoliberalisation and the Expansion of Rights—An Introduction Neoliberalisation Processes in the Region: Their Heterogeneous and Instrumental Character Regional Institutionalisation of the Rights Focus: Legacies, Translations and Imports The Development of South American Childhood Studies: Inquiring into Social Control, Diversity and Childhood Inequality General Aspects of the Field The Chapters of the Book and Their Links with the South American Context Concluding Remarks References Part I Situating the Children’s Rights Approach: Discursive and Material Conflicts in South American Scenarios 2 Rights Activism, Judicial Practices, and Interpretative Codes: Children in Family Justice (Argentina, 1990–2015) The Judicial Sphere and the Children and Adolescents Images of Childhood in Justice—When Children Speak, and Judges Listen and Interpret Construction of the Victim Child Contamination of Children’s Discourse Ways of Interpreting a Child’s Words or the Purpose of Listening “Lifting the Load Off the Child’s Shoulders” The Child’s Words Are Not the Same as the Child’s “Best Interests” Concluding Remarks References 3 The Problems of Child Labour: International Organizations and Local Contexts Theoretical Methodological Approach and Argentinian Context The Construction of a Hegemonic Viewpoint: The Case of the ILO Two Studies on Children Who Work: Establishing Counterpoints First Topic: Childhood and Family Second Topic: Child Exploitation Third Topic: Conflict/Tension with Schooling Fourth Topic: Child Labour and Risks to Health Concluding Remarks References 4 Early Childhood and Neoliberalism in Colombia: True Discussions, Government Rationality, and Conducting Behaviour A Look at Children from the Social Studies Perspective Early childhood Emergency: Discursive Horizon The Discourse of Early Childhood Rights The Discourse of Child Development The Investment Discourse Rationality of Government and Conduct of Behaviour in Early Childhood Policy Concluding Remarks References Part II South American Schools: The Inner and Outer Courtyards of the Educational Systems in Neoliberalised Contexts 5 The Pedagogical Bond in the Managerial Organization of Chilean Schools Chile: A Neoliberal Laboratory in Education The Teacher-Student Bond in a Neoliberal Context The Clinical Approach for the Study of the Teacher-Student Bond A Work Clinic Research Project Results Marta: A Teacher from Another Era Marco Antonio and Denisse: Teachers in Conflict with the Real Child Concluding Remarks References 6 Life Courses of Out-of-School Adolescents. Neoliberalism, Vulnerabilities and Violation of the Right to Education in Peru School Dropout in a Context of Fragmented Private Education A Methodology Based on Analysis of Biographical Data School Dropout as a Consequence of a Biographical Rupture (Configuration A) Labour Migration as Detrimental to School Attendance Teenage Pregnancy and Lack of Support in the School System School Dropout as a Result of a Process of Distancing from the School (Configuration B) Grade Repetition, Being Older Than the Grade Level and Discouragement with School Concluding Remarks School Dropout as a Multi-Factor Phenomenon Out-of-School Adolescence in the Face of the Privatization of the School System and the Right to Education References 7 Participation Rights in Brazilian Schools: Towards the Politicization of Intergenerational Relationships? Setting Up the Scenario for Youth’s Participation Rights in the Context of Brazilian Economic and Social Development Youth’s Political Participation in Brazil: From National Causes to Generational Concerns Research Methodology Concluding Remarks References Part III South American Childhoods, Migration and Neoliberalisation: The Search for Less Precarious Scenarios 8 Children and Migratory Processes in Ecuador Between 1999 and 2009: From the Financial Crisis’ Trauma to the Promises of the Rule of Law Migration and the First Neoliberal Wave. The Situational and the Conceptual 1996–2006: Crisis, Transformations, and Mobilized Society. Those Who Departed Children, Adolescents, and Family Strategies in the Migration Process Concluding Remarks References 9 Venezuelan Children on the Move in Ecuador: Fragile Lives of Risk and Hope Venezuelan Migration to Ecuador Life in Venezuela and Departure The Journey Life at the Border Life in the City: Quito and Guayaquil Concluding Remarks References 10 Back and Forth: An Analysis of the Processes of Transnationalization of Women’s Work and the Internationalization of Early Childhood Policies in Uruguay Local Interpretations and Transnational Perspectives on Mobility Gendered Globalization and Feminization of Migration Transnational Childhoods: Between Invisibility and Culturalism Concluding Remarks References 11 Concluding Remarks References Index This edited volume concerns childhood throughout South America after the 1990s, a period and territory of special complexity marked by the beginning - or intensification of - political neoliberalisation throughout the region. The decade also saw the ratification of the International Convention on Rights of the Child and post-dictatorial processes of political and social democratisation. The editors of this book explore the tension this juxtaposition has generated between logics and processes of dissimilar orientations. Within this framework, chapters investigate the neoliberalisation and institution of children's rights and consider similarities and differences with respect to other regions. They also explore changes in schools and educational systems, as well as the phenomenon of the internal and external child and family migration