Governing the 'agentic' child citizen: A poststructural analysis of children's participation

摘要: The discourse of children’s participation in decision-making on all levels society, from community and environmental development to their ‘everyday lives’, has received increasing interest recent decades, developing into an almost universally fashionable rhetoric. Within the literature, however, there is a growing concern that much this rhetoric fails seriously engage wide-ranging rigorous theoretical critique its own policies practices; practices which have some respects fallen short intended purpose ‘empower’, foster ‘agency’, ‘give voice’ ‘make change’. In addressing these issues, doctoral thesis constructs poststructural genealogy present state based analysis literature semi-structured interviews with eleven key informants associated field participation. were selected based experience reputation within field, majority interviewed during international conferences workshops attended by researcher candidature. To reflect global nature selected variety different contexts, both geographically (informants Australia, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Nicaragua, United Kingdom, Finland, States Italy) institutionally Nations, NGOs and/or national tertiary institutions). Analysing ways power operates through text talk, study highlights less visible children are governed invited govern themselves name It also asks what practices, positions spaces made available children, as well those not, how challenge or reproduce particular conceptions the child. Drawing Foucauldian understandings power/knowledge, subject governmentality, maps discourses twophased genealogy. Phase one involves: a) ‘new times’ positioned, characterised notions globalisation, individualisation democratisation; b) related intersecting areas rights, citizenship childhood studies; c) four sites power/knowledge participation, namely non-governmental organisation, academy; d) three involved circulation journals, Internet. second phase then draws more specifically language ideas which are ‘ritually reiterated’ informant interrogate which…