Performative Bodies, Tactical Agents and Political Selves: Rethinking the Political Geographies of Childhood

Abstract

Theoretical elaboration and conceptualisation of children's political geographies is presently in a state of modification. Since the concepts of childhood and politics are not commonly brought together, there is plenty of work to be done. This article concentrates on revealing some political aspects of childhood and bringing up other focal questions concerning children's political geographies. Special attention is paid to children's agency and tactics to reach a better understanding of their ways of participating in politics. The theoretical foundations for this paper are in critical social theory. Following the thoughts of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel de Certeau and Nigel Thrift on the potentials of non-representational theory, it explores performativity and body politics in general.

Notes

1. See, for example, Alderson, 1994; Mayall, 1996, p. 87; and Zeiher, 2001. Regarding general policy orientations see Neale, 2004; Christensen, 2002; and also the current UNICEF homepage (2006).

2. For a treatment of symbolic violence, see Bourdieu (1985).

3. The prior contexts of the EVL(N) model do not relate to childhood studies in substance. Therefore, the terminology used in the model should not be taken as read, but appreciated through the wider theoretical frame of this study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kirsi Pauliina Kallio

Kirsi Pauliina Kallio is in the Department of Regional Studies, 33014 University of Tampere, Finland. Tel.: [phone]. Fax: [phone]. E-mail: [email protected]