Course Materials:

• Introduction to the Anthropology of Childhood
• The World's Children: Overview of the ICRC
• The State of the World's Children 2008: Executive Summary (SOWC)
• Interview with Nancy Scheper-Hughes
• "Fathers in the Making" from L.A. Times
• New York Times article, "Ruling on Tight Jeans and Rape Sets Off Anger in Italy"
• China's "One-Child" Policy
• Lunchbox Hegemony
• Mickey, Nicky, and Barbie: Kinderculture in America
• Seeing White: Children of Color and the Disney Fairy Tale Princess
• Sample Consent Form for Interviews
• "Death Without Weeping" excerpts

The goal of this course is to introduce you to the anthropological study of children and childhood. Through short films, case studies, readings, and several analytical projects, we will comparatively study childhood as it is experienced in a variety of world and American ethnic groups.

This course explores different cultural patterns of child rearing and the ways that gender, ethnicity, and the environment can affect maternal and child health. The effects of culture change on children will be studied with emphasis on children and war, poverty and health programs, and HIV/AIDS. We will also explore the cultural politics surrounding notions of "childhood” and “motherhood” in different areas around the world and within the United States, including examples from Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Canada.