Exploring Childhood Studies, A Graduate Student Conference Department of Childhood Studies Rutgers University, Camden The Department of Childhood Studies Graduate Student Organization at Rutgers University, Camden, invites submissions for paper presentations for their first formal graduate student conference to be held April 9, 2010 on the Camden, NJ campus. Graduate students from all disciplines who are engaged in research relating to children and childhood are encouraged to submit proposals. The field of childhood studies engages in both theoretical and empirical study of children and childhood within historical, contemporary, interdisciplinary, multi-cultural, state, national, and global contexts. The interdisciplinary nature of the field is one of its greatest strengths and the core of its remarkable potential for scholarly advancement, but also leaves the field open for exploration and interrogation, and its borders difficult, if not impossible, to define. The Exploring Childhood Studies conference proposes defining Childhood Studies by "doing" childhood studies. We seek papers that investigate childhood as a construct, children as a category, or the child as a real living human as their central focus, providing critical thought and insight while locating them in different contexts, fields, and ideologies. We invite proposals from all disciplines, including education, literature, economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, law, political science, history, criminology, philosophy, medicine, religion, film studies, and cultural studies as well as multi-disciplinary scholarly work. The range of possible topics includes: war, health, rights, gender, poverty, wealth, policy, ethics, popular culture, globalization, school, family, home, sexuality, community, social constructions, theorizations and representations of children and childhood in all modes of fiction. Submission: 250-word abstract plus cover letter with name, current level of graduate study, affiliated university, and email address to m_modica@vfcc.edu . Include the words "conference abstract" in subject line, and include name on the cover letter only. Deadline: October 31, 2009. Accepted presenters will receive notification by January 10, 2010. Contact Patrick Cox at ptcox@camden.rutgers.edu or Anandini Dar at anandini@camden.rutgers.edu if you have questions about the conference, or visit http://crab.rutgers.edu/~bowman/conference/ Visit the Department of Childhood Studies here: http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/ Patrick Cox PhD Student Department of Childhood Studies, Rutgers University http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/ Co-Chair, Exploring Childhood Studies Conference http://crab.rutgers.edu/~bowman/conference/ "In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer." --Albert Camus "Don't let your studies interfere with your education." --Colonel Henry Rutgers "the jUdges of nOrmalitY are present everywhere." --Foucault, of course