Studying Childhood in India

This post is based on an article - Studying Childhood in India by Krishna Kumar (EPW, June 2016). The article looks at the various ideas of childhood that have been dominant in India over the past century or so, and what they mean for parenting, pedagogy and politics in the new century.

Diversity is a Deceptive Term

Our ability to use term childhood analytically is based on knowledge conditions about distinct areas like parenting, teaching, children's literature and children themselves. Major dimension that limits our knowledge is the diversity of circumstances in which children grow in India. Author argues that our idea of childhood is likely to be influenced by dominant global disclosure on the subject and our comparative outlook. Therefore, the author thinks that the term diversity is deceptive as it highlights the geographical and cultural difference, while keeping out of view differences arising from economic conditions & caste hierarchy. 

Our Colonial Context

Our contemplation on childhood in India is likely to be framed by the dominant global disclosure on the subject. It enforces a compulsive comparative outlook on our attempts to study childhood in India. It is a problem linked to the training that our curiosity has received under a colonized system of education. New projects for knowledge creation must keep these constraints in mind. On the other hand, we have had great teachers like Gandhi and Tagore who provided their distinct pedagogic visions. Given the colonial context of India, we need to pay attention to these teachers while we create a vision for the children of India in the modern world. 

Idea of Protection

European history and thought resulted in the idea of an extended and protected childhood. There are two facets to it. One, provision of physical protection from induction into work which resulted in the child to be looked after both by family and state. It puts the colonized nation like India in a difficult dilemma as participation of children in family occupation was part of rural India. And second, keeping children from knowledge of sexual good and evil which resulted in extending the psychological stage of latency & recognition of latency as a significant period of intellectual growth. The subject of childhood has many layers, not just many dimensions. 

Caste of Childhood

If the role of caste as a major agency of socialization during childhood is to be fully comprehended, the two assumptions that need to be questioned are:

i. The educated person will be less caste conscious

ii. Urbanization will lead to people being less caste conscious

Brave New World

The new order that the author is talking about is the world of new information and communication technology. This new world blurs boundaries between nations, states, regions, cultures and between the ages. The author argues that the new geography of the child's sphere of interaction has made older notions of protection and guidance meaningless. And, the child is back to being vulnerable in a boundless world. We do not fully know the nature of the new world, its impact and how it shapes adult-child relations. There is a need to contemplate on what this new order implies for a child's physical, intellectual and emotional development.

You can read the original article here.