Abstract
Acknowledgement
At the end of a very hot summer, we say arrivederci to our colleague Leena Alanen, who, after having performed for 3 years as book review editor and 13 years as coeditor, has been the longest serving editor in the history of Childhood. Her long journey with the journal has been a perfect match: Childhood was made for her, and she was made for Childhood. When Leena informed us of her decision to step down as an editor, she told us that ‘Childhood has been the best I could ever wish to happen in my academic career, and I have enjoyed it all’. We have also greatly enjoyed working with Leena and thank her for her rigorous editorial services and for the many supportive and productive exchanges during all these years.
Leena leaves the journal a generous legacy with her erudite and well written editorials. Taken together these offer an intellectual compass to navigate fundamental questions related to the axiology, ontology and epistemology of the field of childhood studies. Each of Leena’s editorials encloses a condensed and stimulating invitation to reflect on the fundamental questions and theories that are, or might become, important for strengthening childhood studies. The themes covered include children’s rights and critical childhood studies, inviting researchers to make explicit the normative foundations of childhood research. A strong supporter of the interdisciplinary nature of childhood studies, she has drawn attention to the need to firmly anchor childhood studies to broader theories in social sciences and humanities and has also expressed concern about the field’s position in academia. Furthermore, she has elaborated ideas on the relation between childhood studies, social constructionism and intersectionality, without losing sight of the need to keep a focus on the structural position of childhood. In her editorials, Leena has asked only pertinent questions, about the role of ontology, ethics and philosophy for childhood studies, about what progress in science means or about the relational challenges to childhood studies.
After having so productively engaged with the various ‘turns’ in social sciences and childhood studies, it is now time for Leena to take her own turn, to the Italian language and culture, to her grandchildren, to sociology, to fiction, to the piano,… We thank you Leena for all the years you have given to Childhood and wish you all the best with your future projects.
Welcome
The editors of Childhood are delighted to welcome Tatek Abebe who will be joining our ranks as new coeditor of the journal. Tatek is a professor of childhood studies at the Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology (NTNU). He holds a BA degree in Geography (with Distinction) from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, a MPhil in Development Studies and a PhD in Human Geography from NTNU, Norway. His research interests and expertise focus on precarious childhoods and youth with an emphasis on how political economy and socio-cultural fields intersect to shape young people’s experiences and responses around questions of care, education, learning, labouring, and social transitions into adulthood. Tatek has conducted ethnographic and participatory research with children and youth in different spatial contexts to develop empirical arguments as well as make critical theoretical interventions around social reproduction, children’s rights, agency, young people’s political activism, research ethics, and the politics of knowledge production. He has served as Editorial Board Member of Childhood for over a decade and co-guest edited two special issues: one on Beyond pluralizing African childhoods (23 (3)) and another one focusing on Southern theories and decolonial childhood studies (29 (3)). He was the Director of the Council for Development of Social Science Research in Africa’s 2017 Child and Youth Institute which led to his edited book African Futures and Childhood Studies in Africa (CODESRIA, 2022). His coedited volume on Geographies of Children and Young People: Laboring and Learning was published by Springer (2017), whereas the Handbook on Childhood and Global Development will be published by Routledge in 2023. At NTNU, he convenes the postgraduate, international programmes in the Department of Education and Lifelong Learning, namely MPhil in Childhood Studies and PhD in Interdisciplinary Child Research.
We are looking forward to continuing our journey together with you, Tatek.
Sarada Balagopalan, Karl Hanson, Spyros Spyrou, and Ragnhild Berge
September 2022