Instructor: Jules Delisle

Across cultures, children occupy paradoxical roles: they may be idealized as symbols of hope or cast aside as incomplete beings. They can simultaneously represent purity and vulnerability while also being treated as disposable resources. We will explore these extremes by analyzing "neontocratic" societies, where children are central to social structures, alongside "gerontocratic" ones, where they are subordinate until they achieve adult status. Themes such as attachment, play, caregiving, education, and social control will reveal how childhood shapes and is shaped by ecological, political, and economic conditions.