Professors re-discover youth

Within the walls of the Simpson Center for the Humanities, a group of professors are slowly rediscovering what it means to be a child.

Their project "Reclaiming Childhood" is a collaborative research effort that examines the changing nature of American childhood through five thematic areas: society, time, space, mind and body.

The primary aim of the Reclaiming Childhood project is to increase dialogue between faculty studying similar themes in different fields, according to the Reclaiming Childhood Web site.

"You can't just take an across-the-board view of youth; you have to look at the context," said Sharon Sutton, a professor in the architecture department and member of the Reclaiming Childhood team.

Reclaiming Childhood is the brainchild of geography professor Katharyne Mitchell, who became the first to receive the distinguished Simpson Professorship in the humanities last year.

"I applied for the professorship and [reclaiming childhood] was my theme," Mitchell said. "I had been working on migration and citizen formation and schooling is a major part of that process. I became interested in how children are formed through lots of different venues."

The Simpson Professorship offers scholars funding for a three-year project of the professor's choice.

"The goals of the professorship are to makes links between academia and the community to support the idea of public scholarship. My goals are to make links with people working with children in many different areas," Mitchell said.

Last year, Mitchell and her team worked specifically with adults who work with children. During the program's second year, she will work specifically with children.

Mitchell is collaborating with Frances McCue, director of the Richard Hugo House, a local writing and poetry center that frequently holds open mike nights for young writers. Mitchell herself will conduct a workshop with 10-12 year olds in November.

While she acknowledges that children are often unable to talk about changes occurring around them, Mitchell said she looks forward to the ideas raised in classroom environments.

According to an article published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in June, one of the main concerns raised by the project is "the focus has been based primarily on financial considerations and has obscured larger and more important questions relating to childhood and child development."

The economic implications of childhood will be explored by Mitchell in an upcoming article entitled "Pay to Play: Privatizing Childhood," which will be submitted to the magazine American Prospect.

"In the third year we will create a series of documentary films regarding different themes in childhood," said Mitchell.

The documentary will represent a synthesis of Reclaiming Childhood's interviews, lectures and work.

Mitchell will also be publishing a book on the thematic elements of the project, while creating linkages between the changing nature of childhood and the social and economic factors responsible.

"I need to talk about [childhood] in a way which creates public understanding," Mitchell said.

Public lectures are one of the main avenues Reclaiming Childhood has taken to create public understanding.

"My lecture is on my current work with youth organizations," said Sutton, whose study involves 88 programs that have a social justice approach to youth.

Sutton's book, The Architecture of Fear, explores different experiences children have within their neighborhoods.

"My work is on youth and how youth stereotypes are developed and center around neighborhoods," said Sutton. "Children can differentiate good places from bad places -- from the area of the neighborhood to the types of curtains hanging in the windows."