Colonialism, Racism, and Childhoods: Introduction

Over the past two decades, pressing questions around childhood, age, difference, and power have traversed the multidisciplinary study of childhood, and have come to overlap increasingly with writings on colonialism. While children remain relatively under-analyzed across this scholarship, children and notions of childhood are always implicated in colonialism and its vestiges. Moreover, legacies of colonialism shape the images of children who dominate headlines today, from cruel policies which separate migrant children from their families at the United States—Mexico border, to Israel’s continued assault on Gaza and the deliberate targeting of Palestinian children, to young climate activists who have mobilized around the globe. Our special issue explores questions around colonialism and childhood, and specifically their processes of racialization; and argues for a general practice of decolonizing the study of childhood. The authors—representing several disciplines and regions—have contributed essays which cover two broad themes. The first three articles speak to histories of colonialism and their entwinement with childhood, and the challenges actors face in attempting to reckon with those histories. The next three articles take up discussions concerning childhood as a colonialist racialized concept, and pose questions about who is deserving of care and whose care should be recognized as good for children. Our queries recognize the important work already being done by childhood studies scholars, invite newer researchers to the field to consider childist concerns, and welcome all to imagine futures beyond our present crises.