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About Us
The
working group on childhood and migration was founded in 2005 by
scholars who wished to bring a human face to children's experiences
of migration, including children who are left behind, children
who move back and forth, and children who settle in a strange land.
We now have over sixty members at universities all
over the world who study and report on issues such as how migration
changes children's notions of self, strategies that parents and
families use to handle child-rearing when they find they must migrate,
and changing notions of childhood across cultures. We are especially
interested in informing and reforming how societies can better
nurture children's natural capabilities, inclinations and needs,
specifically as they are interrupted or altered by migration journeys.
Our interdisciplinary Working Group held its first Conference
on Childhood and Migration: “Emerging
Perspectives on Children in Migratory Circumstances.” The
conference took place in June 2008 at Drexel University in
Philadelphia with
support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Drexel University,
and Rutgers University, Camden. At this
inauguaral conference, we welcomed researchers and policy advocates
from all disciplines and all areas of the world whose work focuses
on the ways that increased migration affects children and the cultural,
legal, educational, medical, and psychological perception of childhood.The
conference was well attended and it was great to have a chance
to meet each other in person.
Please
explore our research notes on
childhood and migration, biographies
of our research members and the expertise they can offer, and bibliographies of
interest. Check here periodically also to see links to important
funding sources for research on childhood and migration, announcements
of specials issues, journals, conference, etc. and links to organizations
working with children and migration.
For the Press: We encourage you to
contact our working group members, all of whom are expert contacts
on multiple issues. Our rotating
research notes section may also be of use to help flesh out stories
or to provide basic information.
Call for Contributors: We are soliciting
contributions for our web collection of research notes and contributions
for our electronic gallery of visual and audio materials called Migration
through Children’s Eyes. If you are an
academic researcher or a professional working with migrant populations,
please consider sending us your contributions or suggestions.
For more information, contact
Rachel R. Reynolds at rrr@drexel.edu or call 215-895-0498.
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