Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, Geoffrey Vitale shows the ways in which people understand, raise, and educate children and youth differently from century to century and from country to country according to the culture, lifestyle, politics, and economics of their place of origin. He also introduces a professional anthropological perspective on the topic.
Trade ReviewAnthropology of Childhood and Youth: International and Historical Perspectives is a sweeping study of childhood across time and space. Geoffrey Vitale, while being attentive to scholarly discussions about the historicity of categories of childhood and youth, manages to provide a comprehensive look at how notions of childhood have transformed children's lives from pre-modern times through our own contemporary moment. The volume will be indispensable to any course on the history of global childhood. -- Rebecca Friedman, Florida International University
Geoffrey Vitale’s comprehensive history contributes importantly to an understanding of attitudes and actions toward waifs, orphans, slaves, dropouts, and other abandoned, protected, educated, exploited, and abused young people from the ancient world to the global society. Both informative and enlightening, Vitale’s comparative analysis will be indispensable to Childhood Studies scholars. -- Miriam Forman-Brunell, University of Missouri - Kansas City
Anthropology of Childhood and Youth: International and Historical Perspectives is a wide-ranging book, examining the process of growing up in many places throughout history. It is an exceptional resource to understand the complexity – and often futility – of trying to make generalizations about children’s place across time and between countries. The book is a must-have for anyone interested in researching the topic of childhood in world-historical perspective. -- Pamela Riney-Kehrberg, Iowa State University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Preface Introduction Chapter 1: The Ages of Man Chapter 2: Infanticide and Abandonment Chapter 3: Adoption and Oblation Chapter 4: Protecting Children: Foundling Hospitals and Orphanages Chapter 5: Education: Origins and Development Chapter 6: Education: Demographics and Dropouts Chapter 7: Child Trafficking Epilogue Bibliography Index
