"Children can feel but they cannot analyze their feelings; and if the analysis is partially effected in thought, they know not how to express the result of the process in words."
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
Phillippe Aries has established that in the medieval ages 'childhood' as a concept did not exist. The consciousness that a child differs from an adult and that childhood is not an unproblematic biological qualifier but a particular cultural phrasing, historically and politically contingent, started emerging in the twentieth century. As a consequence, for long children existed as a 'marginalized' and 'muted group'. The study of childhood in the social sciences was 'marked not only by an absence of interest in children …but also by their silence.'[1] An ideological shift occurred when society became more child-centric, more conscious of providing children with a safe haven, in a 'mythic walled garden'.
The twentieth century, referred to as the 'century of the child', is also the century that witnessed upsurges in the instances of war, nationalist violence, communal violence and genocide of which adults and children alike were victims or in some cases even perpetrators. Though children may not be the intended target in war,-violence, it is beyond contestation that they emerge as the more vulnerable victims. Indisputably, each perpetuation of violence against child ensures that 'childhood' is suddenly and deeply interrupted.
It is these violations of 'Child/hood' that have remained relatively unaddressed. Several constraints disrupt the discourses on violence done unto 'child/hood'. More often than not, the task of relating to, interpreting and expressing a child's traumatic encounter, her experience of horror, falls upon an adult whose perception and interpretation of the world around is different to say the least. As Chris Jenks says, childhood is esoteric, "…the child is familiar to us and yet strange, he or she inhabits our world and yet seems to answer to another."
Further, pain does not lend itself easily to language. As Veena Das points out that violence ensures that "language is struck dumb." Elaine Scarry also speaks of how pain entails a 'shattering of language' and resists expression. Thus, while adults find language as inadequate/unsuitable means of expression of their pain, the possibility of a child (who is still in the process of assimilating the nuances of language) expressing her experience of pain through language/ aesthetic medium is even further removed from realization.
In such a context this volume seeks to address how has art attempted to represent violations of child/hood. Authors like Zlata Flipovic, Graham Salisbury, Ian Serraillier, Amitav Ghosh, Bapsi Sidhwa, and Shyam Selvadurai, 'Kultar's Mime' to name a few, have written texts that explore the notion of violated childhood. Further, films like 'Twenty Four Eyes', 'Life is Beautiful', 'Fate of the Children of Lidice' 'Children of War', 'Mammo', 'Parzania,' 'Ramchand Pakistani,' 'Kaya Taran' are a few instances of how the 'child as a victim' has been addressed through visual culture. It is critical perspectives on these and other related texts, topics and themes that this volume seeks to address.
Scholarly articles on texts, performance arts and films which address the idea of violated 'Child/hood' are invited related to but not restricted to the following themes:
· Children in Wars
· Children in Civil wars (Bangladesh Liberation War, Rwandan Civil war, Yugoslav War, Sri Lankan Civil War)
· Children as soldiers
· Inscription of cartographic anxiety on child's body
· Ethnic violence
· Children as weapons/victims in acts of terror
· War Babies (Often referred to as children of 'bad memories' and 'scum babies' these derogatory epithets pertain to children born to women whose bodies were claimed, conquered by assailants and used as vessels for reproduction. )
· Autobiographical first person accounts by children
Submission Details:
Please email abstracts not exceeding 500 words to both editors by April 20, 2015 at the following email id : childhoodtrauma@gmail.com
Please ensure that the proposals have the requisite information:-paper, title, name, designation, affiliation, email id.
Dr. Angelie Multani
Associate Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Dr. Kamayani Bhatnagar
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Maharaja Agrasen College
University of Delhi
Mobile: +91 94 94 24 26 45
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