The Biopolitics of Childhood in the Long American 19th Century (1) (Children's Literature and Culture)

Synopsis

This edited collection contends that the figure of the child is foundational to the workings of biopolitical power yet remains undertheorized. The study of nineteenth-century biopolitics offers a theoretical framework that promises to increase our understanding of how modern democracies manage their subjects. Recent scholarship has invigorated interrogations into forms of state governance that operate at the level of population, a biological phenomenon defined as a group of individuals linked by racialized fictions of biological commonality. This collection seeks to recognize and position critical childhood studies as essential to these interrogations. The essays theorize the role of representations of children and childhood as tools of biopolitical governance in America in the long nineteenth century. They variously explore how the interrelated and overlapping qualities integral to our understandings of the child and childhood are readily deployed by biopolitical power. The collection is organized into three sections that illustrate how these qualities enable the sorting of human beings into populations targeted for reform, exploitation, and disposal.

Copyright:

2025

Book Details

Book Quality:

Publisher Quality

Book Size:

266 Pages

ISBN-13:

9781040298466

Related ISBNs:

9781003435068, 9781040298428, 9781032563527

Publisher:

Taylor & Francis

Date of Addition:

04/24/25

Copyrighted By:

selection and editorial matter, Lucia Hodgson and Allison Giffen

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

Children's Books, Teens, Literature and Fiction, Language Arts

Submitted By:

Bookshare Staff

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.

Edited by:

Lucia Hodgson

Edited by:

Allison Giffen