**Adam Golub and Bill Bush have organized a Children and Youth Studies Caucus within the American Studies Association. We will be meeting for the first time at this fall's ASA annual conference, October 12-15, Oakland, CA. Our meeting is scheduled for 2:00 PM on Saturday, Oct 14. This will be a business meeting where we will decide together on a plan for future work, perhaps including a web site, listserv, future conference panels, and other activities. We encourage any and all interested persons to attend - let's make our presence felt! For more information see the ASA conference web site: http://www.georgetown.edu/crossroads/AmericanStudiesAssn/annualmeeting/ASA2006/2006.htmCau

Caucus Mission Statement:

This caucus seeks an increased and organized presence within ASA for interdisciplinary approaches to the study of children and youth. We believe a Children and Youth Studies Caucus would provide a forum for showcasing the growing range and diversity of scholarly work in this subject area. In addition, the Caucus will draw new scholars into the orbit of ASA from disciplines such as education, anthropology, and Childhood Studies. It will enhance the ASA’s membership and annual conference program while also fostering communication between scholars who might otherwise never meet.

Impressionistic evidence suggests that the study of children and youth represents a rapidly growing field of inquiry. Practically every major academic press at the recent ASA meeting featured at least one and frequently two or more new titles dealing with children’s literature, public schooling, youth culture, and juvenile justice. Institutions of higher education, both in and out of the United States, increasingly offer undergraduate and sometimes graduate degree programs in Childhood Studies. These programs are explicitly interdisciplinary in approach, mirroring the methodological and epistemological questions currently being asked by American Studies scholars. For example, the Center for Children and Childhood Studies at Rutgers University supports “interdisciplinary inquiry into the lives of children in the city of Camden, the U.S., and abroad” and offers “innovative and interdisciplinary courses, research and service internships that equip university students and the public to make informed decisions concerning children and youth.” We believe that this program will be replicated in universities and colleges elsewhere, and that a coming generation of scholars will produce important and interesting work that should find a home at ASA.

Already, historians who study children and youth have created their own organization, the Society for the History of Children and Youth (SHCY), which has grown rapidly since its inception in 1999. SHCY sponsors its own listserv on H-Net (H-Childhood), publishes a newsletter, and hosts a semi-annual conference that brings together leading historians in this unique sub-field. However, a great many scholars who study children and youth are not historians and must look to other venues for their work and other mediums for the exchange of ideas. We believe the ASA can accomplish this worthwhile goal via a Children and Youth Studies Caucus.

Steering Committee contact information:

Bill Bush, Assistant Professor in Residence (email: William.bush@unlv.edu)

Department of History

University of Nevada-Las Vegas

Las Vegas, NV 89154-5020

 

Adam Golub, Assistant Professor (email: agolub@guilford.edu )

Education Studies Department

Guilford College

Greensboro, NC 27410

Calls for Papers: Conferences
**Australian Feminist Studies conference, entitled “The Child.” The deadline for submissions is 15 May 2007. For more information contact the guest editor, Assoc Prof Barbara Baird, Women's Studies, Flinders University barbara.baird@flinders.edu.au (as yet, no website available).