Child Poverty, Rights, and Policies: Perspectives From Five National Contexts

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium examines how poverty is played out in the lives of impoverished children in five national contexts. Child poverty is analyzed both as the existential and the policy crisis of our times, and as a violation of human capabilities and rights. Drawing from studies in the U.S., India, Kenya, South Africa and the West Bank, this session advocates for a multi-dimensional and nuanced view of poverty that takes participants’ own perspectives and agency into account. Presenters share the view that child poverty constitutes a global crisis with far-reaching implications for children’s well-being, educational achievement, and citizenship. Papers also analyze impacts of globalization and neoliberal policies on the lives of children and families in both poor and wealthy nations.

Sub Unit

• Division G - Social Context of Education / Section 4: Social Context of Educational Policy, Politics, and Praxis

Chair

• Beth Blue Swadener, Arizona State University

Papers

• None for You: Child Poverty, Rights, and Capabilities - Valerie Polakow, Eastern Michigan University

• I Have a Right to an Education: Girls in Northern India Speak Out - Imandeep Kaur Grewal, Eastern Michigan University

• Invisible Global Minority: Connecting Childhood Disability and Poverty in Kenya - Kagendo Mutua, The University of Alabama; George Mugoya, The University of Alabama

• Pedagogy of Poverty: Experiences of Poor Children in Postapartheid Schools - Bekisizwe S. Ndimande, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Community Reinvention: Children’s Right to Education in the West Bank - Janette Habashi, University of Oklahoma

Discussant

• Beth Blue Swadener, Arizona State University