We are at a significant cusp of the early 21st century, the first quarter is nearly behind us as we are stepping into the second quarter. The first quarter introduced two ways of understanding the contemporary world, that to me, had deep resonance because they gave me a language to clarify the ambiguities of a world I began questioning from the southwest coastal Indian city of Bombay in the 1990s. And that I am fortunate, to be in a position to continue questioning, safely, from the southwest coastal Norwegian city of Stavanger in the 2020s.
Childism as a scholarly and social movement, like feminism (yes there are limits to that analogy as the thin line between similar and identical matters) helped me grasp the preliminary place of adult-centrism in structuring inequities on this planet. The complexity of the inequities of this era within which childism evolves to contribute to transformative movements, was something I grasped through the anthropological description of Overheating by Thomas Hylland Eriksen.
"You should start a research institute for childism," he had said to me, after I completed my doctoral work titled, Little Things Matter Much: A philosophy of pedagogy in an overheated word, which Thomas supported me generously to realise. He was one of the few scholars and public thinkers, who did not write directly about childhood, but saw the timely relevance of the childist lens in an era of accelerated acceleration. Thomas' interventions opened my mind to realising that the scale of childist thinking extends to intergenerational relating, beyond the generations we meet. That returning the critical gaze to our adult selves is also about relating to generations that are yet to come. In 2024, some months before he passed away from cancer on 27th November, we published a chapter about how the climate litigation of Gen Z activists like Greta Thunberg, could help us learn from children in order to think of the coming generations too. There was so much more to share, think, and write about together; the grief of his death now is also the profound inspiration for life that lies ahead.
"It has already begun Thomas! There is an institute started by John Wall at Rutgers, and I accepted his invitation to be on board! It's more an independent research collective for now, we develop childism!" I responded, more excited than exclamation marks could express. Since its inception in 2019, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Childism Institute has continued to develop the research area as it meanders the cracks of stubborn academic institutions. The former advisory board (2020 - 2023) in its first meetings debated whether the term 'institute' implies that there should be a physical building. Does it? I remain skeptical, and celebrate the transnational possibilities for institution building that digital technology affords us — regardless of which passports and visas enable us to sit wherever it is we sit to think, speak, and publish together. My celebratory position might resemble the technological utopia of the 1990s and early end of the 21st century; it is not though. I celebrate the digital institution building with caution from leftovers of Heidegerrian depressing ontological angst of 'modern' technology.
The Childism Institute's research activities have been operating digitally since its conception. In 2020, we sought to convene, consolidate, and cultivate childist research. And, we have been doing that consistently with the transnational childism colloquia, podcasts, blogs, lectures, specialised courses for academic and non-academic audiences, academic articles, special issues, conference participation, bibliography building, and focused projects.
Starting in 2023, we restructured the institute to 'decentralise and expand operations' beyond its primary anchor at Rutgers University, say. The institute now found additional anchors at the University of Stavanger (Norway) and the University of Roskilde (Denmark) and began more project-based work, moving ahead from the Transnational Childism Colloquium as its backbone activity. In 2024, in addition to online colloquia and publications, the institute contributed to conferences at the University of Oslo (Norway), University of Bergamo (Italy), University of Limoges (France), the University of Porto (Portugal), and online contributions to higher education. It is also hosting its first guest researcher, historian Sivan Balslev at the University of Stavanger and it has co-hosted an authors' workshop on Decoloniality, Interculturality and Childism.
This year, the institute will continue convening. consolidating and cultivating childist research through ongoing projects, new collaborations, and courses. In addition to regular academic publication work, there will be a multilingual conversation series about the special dossier on adult-centrism in cooperation with the journal childhood & philosophy, a master class for doctoral researchers in summer, micro-modules on childism in cooperation with the European Consortium of Innovative Universities, a special issue project in cooperation with the University of Gothenburg and the University of Porto, continued cooperation with the international Children’s Voting Colloquium, and a series of workshops in collaboration with Universidade de Brasília on connections between childism and protagonismo in Latin America.
The year 2025, however, is more than one more new year in the life course of the institute, and it is also more than a new quarter in a century. This year the Childism Institute will turn five. And, with due acknowledgement to our chronological age critical community, it is a milestone worth taking a little pause to recognise. The institute has moved forward steadily, contributing to intellectual and social life with its transnational resonance — digitally. When its early advisory board members discussed what role the term 'institute' would play in the life course of the Childism Institute, turning five was not yet in clear sight. And, here we are, the institute turns five in 2025! We might get ready to say happy birthday, but not just to the Childism Institute!
2025 is also the year that marks the arrival of Generation Beta (2025 - 2039); the transition of Generation Alpha to Beta. And, with due acknowledgement to our chronological age critical community, the 15-year-span definition of one generation might serve some pragmatic worth taken with a pinch of salt which has something to tell our analytical tastebuds. What we think, speak, and write about together through childist lenses would need to resonate with Generation Beta too. Brought up by Millennial and Gen Z parents and educators, Generation Beta will begin with experiencing an even more overheated world. With digital interaction as a default, hyper-connectivity, global population shifts and challenges, sustainability will be an expectation and innovation won't serve just convenience but will be desperately needed to solve the pressing challenges of their times. Times that began avalanching down since the 1990s, through the genocides and political mass stupidity we have seen up to 2024. For those who will be born into affordance, theirs will be a digital technology-saturated lifeworld seamlessly bound to the physical with AI and automation embedded in everything from education, work, health, socio-political life, and war. Possibly living into the 22nd century, if no major global catastrophes occur.
Generation Beta may or may not live to see a world that would have transformed in a way that all human babies can get their say in democratic elections. A world where babies of other species are not forgotten because we are stuck in systems that are busy making money with war and robots. But they might see a world where those ideas will resonate and will be more conceivable than they are for us, now.
What might we think, speak and write about, and how shall we do it to resonate with Generation Beta, and learn from them too?
Moving forward, to welcome Gen B and the fifth year of the Childism Institute, that's a question I propose a toast to.
Selected References
Biswas, T., & Eriksen, T. H. (2024). Children as environmental actors - A generational perspective on climate activism in an overheated world. Routledge Handbook of Childhood Studies and Global Development. Routledge
Biswas, T. (2020). Little things matter much: Childist ideas for a pedagogy of philosophy in an overheated world. Büro Himmel Grün.
Eriksen, T.H. (2016) Overheating. Pluto Press
Eriksen, T.H. (n.d) Engaging the world. https://www.hyllanderiksen.net/
Heidegger, M. (1977). The question concerning technology and other essays. Garland Publishing
McCrindle, M. (2024) Welcome Gen Beta. https://mccrindle.com.au/article/generation-beta-defined/
Wall, J. (2023). What is Childism? In N. Brando, D. Lawson and H. Stalford (eds.) Children in Theory: Theoretical Methods and Approaches to the Study of Childhood. Online Masterclass Series. University of Liverpool. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZJYAiCN9ik
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