Trajectories of Youth History

You can read more about this event, including the full program, abstract and background, on our Jottings page.

On 22-23 June 2022, historians of children and youth from around the world were invited to attend "Trajectories of Youth History," a two-day workshop co-sponsored by the Society for the History of Children and Youth and the Children's History Society.

This collaborative event explored the scholarly legacies of two moments in the emergence of youth history, each of which turned fifty this year. In May 1972, Oxford hosted the pioneering event ‘Childhood in History: Children’s Liberation’ under the guidance of Raphael Samuel and the History Workshop collective. That same year, Stanley Cohen published his influential book, Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of the Mods and Rockers. Each enterprise helped establish frameworks for understanding the contemporary and historic significance of young people—a universal social demarcation until then receiving only sporadic scholarly attention.

We are pleased to be able to share the recordings from this two-day event.

Day One Programme:

Introduction (5:01) Anna Davin: "'Childhood in History: Children’s Liberation': the 1972 History Workshop event."

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Definitions (48:51):

Corrie Decker (UC Davis): "Custom, Law, and the Limits of Chronological Age."

Crystal Webster (UBC): "Racial Exclusions of Childhood: Paradoxes of Adultification and Infantilization of Black Children"

Ashwini Tambe (GWUM): "Sex, Age, and Politics in Girlhood Studies"

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Moral Panics (1:55:15):

Jasper Heeks (KCL): "Transurban ‘moral panic’ over juvenile street gangs, 1870-1914"

Abosede George (Barnard): "The Subject of Moral Panics: A Preliminary Review of African History Scholarship"

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Visual Culture (2:39:43):

Helle Strandsgaard Jensen (Aarhus University): "Not-So-Sunny Days: How Historians Ignored Children’s Media and Were Left Behind"

Lara Saguisag (CUNY): "The Space Between Childhood and Comics Studies"

Laura Wexler (Yale): "Families and Photographs: Learning from the Albums of the Sent Down Youth of China"

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Activism (3:43:53)

Edgar Liao (UBC): "Locating Youth Activism and Mobilization in Post-World War Two Asia: A Reflection"

Dara Walker (Penn State): "From the Spectacular to the Quotidian: Reflections on Writing Histories of Youth Organizing and Political Study"

Day Two Programme:

Gender (0:05)

Corinne T. Field (UVA) and LaKisha Michelle Simmons (Michigan): "The Global History of Black Girlhood"

Anasa Hicks (Florida State): "Revolutionary (and Racialized) Childhood and Adolescence in Studies of 20th century Cuba"

Vanessa Plumly (Lawrence University): "Of Confinement and Liberation: Black German Childhood Narratives"

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Environment (1:09:27)

Sarah Mills (Loughborough): "Changing Environments and Spatialities: Historical Geographies of Childhood and Youth"

Marta Gutman (CUNY): "Sites of Struggle: Public Schools, Architecture, and Black Children’s Liberation"

Lucie Glasheen (QMUL) and Jon Winder (Kent): "Playing with scale in histories of childhood environments"

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Religions (2:11:07)

Catherine Rose (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings): "Researching Childhood in Medieval Islamic Societies: Sources & Approaches"

Tali Berner (Tel Aviv University): "The History of Jewish Childhoods"

Hugh Morrison (University of Otago): "Children, Young People and Christian Missions in Modern History"

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Disability (3:22:42)

David Turner (Swansea): "Disability and Family Dynamics in the Industrial Revolution"

Samir Hamdoud (Warwick): "Moralising Young People’s Bodies: Ability and Disability at the Royal Albert Asylum, 1870 – 1920"

Mary Clare Martin (Greenwich): "Disability and the Girl Guides Association: The Social Model in Practice?"

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Reflections and Where Next? (4:35:55)