Childhood and Curriculum

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie C. Garlen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Curriculum Development ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
Dominant Ideologies ◽  
History Of

Since the beginning of Western modernity, evolving perceptions of what childhood “should” be have shaped public discourse around what knowledge is of most worth and informed paradigms of curriculum development. Thus, “the child,” the discursive construct that emerges from dominant ideologies about the nature and purpose of childhood, is a critical artifact in understanding contemporary curriculum in the United States. Significantly, “the child” has operated as a key mechanism to reproduce and expand particular logics about who counts as fully human. In this way, curriculum is implicated in social injustices premised on the protection and futurity of “the child.” Tracing the history of conceptions of “the child” as they relate to curriculum development and theory illuminates the ways that childhood and curriculum are intertwined, and illustrates how childhood operates as a malleable social construct that is mobilized for diverse and sometimes contradictory political purposes.

scholarly journals PHRENOLOGY, CORRESPONDENCE, AND THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF REFORM, 1815–1848

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES POSKETT
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
Global History ◽  
Political Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global Project

ABSTRACTLike many nineteenth-century sciences, phrenology had global aspirations. Skulls were collected in Egypt and Ceylon, societies exchanged journals between India and the United States, and phrenological bestsellers were sold in Shanghai and Tokyo. Despite this wealth of interaction, existing accounts treat phrenology within neat national and urban settings. In contrast, this article examines phrenology as a global political project. During an age in which character dominated public discourse, phrenology emerged as a powerful political language. In this article, I examine the role that correspondence played in establishing material connections between phrenologists and their political concerns, ranging from the abolition of slavery to the reform of prison discipline. Two overarching arguments run throughout my case-studies. First, phrenologists used correspondence to establish reform as a global project. Second, phrenology allowed reformers to present their arguments in terms of a new understanding of human character. More broadly, this article connects political thought with the global history of science.

scholarly journals ESSAY ON HUMAN (RACE RELATIONS) IN THE UNITED STATES

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-267
Author(s):  
Frederick D. Bedell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Race Relations ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Power Structure ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
History Of ◽  
Voter Suppression

This essay speaks to the context of domination and subordination in particular as it pertains to White Supremacy/White Privilege as manifested in the history of slavery and “Jim Crow” in the United States. It is within this historical context one can discern the present status of race relations in the United States that continues to foster race discrimination through the policies of the ethnic majority (white) power structure, e.g.-institutional racism, voter suppression laws, gerrymandering of voter districts and banking policies to name a few areas. The research of books, papers, television interviews and personal experiences provides a testament to present government policies that endeavor to maintain a social construct of dominance and subordination by the white power structure in the United States.

This is (not) Detroit: projecting the future of Germany’s Ruhr region

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Sattler
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Transformation ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ruhr Region

Using the example of Germany’s Ruhr region, this chapter discusses Detroit’s relevance outside of the United States. Like Detroit, the Ruhr has gone through a massive process of economic transformation and de-industrialization. While the role of the state in this process is significantly different in Germany when compared to the United States, the Ruhr’s decline in public discourse often gets connected and compared to Detroit, all the way to using ‘Detroit’ as a threatening example of what could potentially happen to the Ruhr. The chapter addresses the Ruhr’s history of urban and cultural transformation due to de-industrialization and analyzes in detail two projects that build on the idea of ‘Detroit’, helping to point out both, significant tensions in the population and the idea that the future for this region is not fixed as of yet.

scholarly journals Max Weber in America: On the History of His St. Louis’s Paper

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-45
Author(s):  
Timofey Dmitriev
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Comparative Historical Sociology ◽  
Western Modernity ◽  
The Third ◽  
Direct Acquaintance ◽  
History Of

The paper highlights the context and the main points of the speech given by Max Weber at the International Congress of Arts and Science in St. Louis in September, 1904. It analyzes Weber’s views on the dynamics of social change as presented by the German classic in the shape of the comparative historical sociology of the European and American versions of modernity. The first part of the article covers the background and the most significant episodes of the trip to the United States undertaken by Max Weber and his wife Marianne. The second part of the article elucidates the main points of Weber’s speech in St. Louis. The third part examines the observations and conclusions of the specifics of American modernity made by Weber through his direct acquaintance with life in the United States. In conclusion, the paper proposes a brief analysis of Weber’s contribution to the development of historical sociology’s ideas about the nature and pathways of Western modernity.

Review of A brief history of the United States.

1919 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 414-414
Author(s):  
No authorship indicated
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of

An American Language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.

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