Global Childhood Ecologies Research Focus Group

Childhood Ecologies RFG Banner

Global Childhood Ecologies Research Focus Group

Global Childhood Ecologies examines how childhood and ecology prove mutually imbricated in literature, language, and education on a global scale. We suggest that ecologies of childhood are best approached methodologically from the vantage point of diverse international traditions, while we seek to expand the critical conversation around contemporary issues along truly global parameters. This collaboration promotes research employing a wide variety of methodologies, including ecocriticism, ecofeminism, decolonial environmentalism, environmental justice, and posthumanism, to tackle issues pertaining to nature, the environment, and the climate crisis in literature and media for children. We aim to increase environmental awareness on a global arena through research and scholarship about children’s literature and culture, which has a direct impact on children and young people. It formalizes a research collaboration around this subject that will culminate in a global research conference on Ecologies of Childhood to be hosted at UCSB in August 2023 and that aims to have an environmental impact on scholars, educators, and rising generations.

Conveners:
Sara Pankenier Weld, Germanic and Slavic Studies
saraweld@ucsb.edu

Martina Mattei, Comparative Literature Program
martinamattei@umail.ucsb.edu

Zheng Ren, Germanic and Slavic Studies
zren@ucsb.edu

Nicole Smirnoff, Comparative Literature Program
nicolebsmirnoff@umail.ucsb.edu