Analysis of The Paper "Politics of Childhood, Perspectives from South" by Vasanthi Raman

Vasanthi Raman in her paper Politics of Childhood, perspectives from South says that CRC is mainly discourse children’s rights from adult’s perspective. Not only that but Eurocentric perspective dominates entire discourse. Objective of her paper is to describe true south Asian/ Indian perspective on childhood.

Childhood in the west is resultant of ideological, sociological and demographic changes. Due to fragmentation of the family as a unit and family being just a collection of individuals, childhood is suffering in the west. In India, study of childhood didn’t exist till the last decade. Studies mostly focused on socialization and child psychology but there weren’t enough efforts in the direction of understanding childhood.

Childhood in Western Context

Western discourses on childhood talk about vulnerability of individuals specially children due to breakdown of the family. Childhood is when person needs maximum attention, care and protection which starts in family and growth processes enhance in schooling. But breakdown of family changed a lot of things and childhood became a vulnerable period of individual’s life which may lead to traumatic adolescence and adulthood.

Childhood in Indian Context

Vasanthi Raman says that the childhood in east is not as difficult as western world. Child is never seen separately; she is always considered as a part of larger unit which is family. Hence transition from childhood to adulthood is less traumatic and more fluid. Many types of childhoods exist in the eastern part of the world. there is no universal experience of childhood. India sees a large variety in types of childhoods. It is a resultant of complex interplay of historical, social and cultural factors.

In Indian tradition Brahmanical world-view for twice-born castes, doesn’t see child as an individual, he/she is very much a part of Hindu caster social order. Child also belongs to the lowest of the social order. Unlike other low social orders, children get special protection and care in the society. Boys are preferred over girls and there is no place in society for a girl child and children of the lower castes.

Exactly opposite tradition exists in the Garo, a matrilineal community of the Meghalaya. There, girl child is preferred over boy child and girl child is important for the household.

Adult-child relationship also differs depending on context such as in rural areas and urban middle class, there is weak differentiation. Children are usually given comfortable, satisfying, protected lifestyle by the family members in India. There is no sharp difference between world of parents and that of world of child. Except few tribal communities, children don’t have a specified peer group. The peer group they get is of their siblings, family friends, neighbours, cousins and in school. Except school, every peer group is closely related to the family of the child. On the other hand, few tribes have tribal youth dormitories where children grow up without much interference of the family. They are great for socialization and self-regulation of children. Whereas in Hindu household, social spaces or even personal space is difficult to find for a child.

Kashmiri Pandits look at childhood differently than others in India as they have a context sensitive approach. They are represented in three axes by Urvashi Mishra: human divine axis, collective individual axis and fixed inalterable nature of child vs. transformative potential of child’s nature.

Paper also presents a comparative study of childhood in two artisan communities which raises a very important point with respect to childhood that westerns scholars considered few stages to be problematic, but they were not as per mothers. Livelihood training gains more importance than basic life skills. Socialization of qualities and cultural values were considered most important for the transition to adulthood. Both communities introduce children to their professions in the childhood as this practice imbibes the art in children naturally. Gender plays an important role in socialization of children. Girls are usually exposed to household chores and boys in the art. Most important form of learning is the imitation of parent. Maturation or transition to adulthood is a relatively smooth process. As child is considered as a part of large group, individualism doesn’t play a significant role. Everyone works together for family’s well-being.

Paper also talks about difference between child labour and child work. Child work is when child is helping family, learning by doing and getting introduced to the future work. And child labour is when children are forced into external manual work such as working in factories. Children must be protected from exploitative and hazardous forms of labours. Author says that free and compulsory schooling will try to solve this problem but may give rise to another problem of loosing a working and earning hand of the family which may land family into difficult situation.

Article 28 & 32

Two articles, article 28 and 32 provides view on education and child labour respectively. According to article 32, it is children’s right to be protected from economic exploitation and labour in hazardous situations which is harmful for their mental, physical, spiritual, moral or social growth. If labour interferes with their education, child should be protected from such labour as well. Development of a child varies depending on the country and society they are in. In many third world countries, children’s work is not considered as exploitation, but it is considered as valuable economic contribution towards family’s survival. It is a matter of gaining pride, self-respect and training for the future. Article 32 also identifies certain kind of work to be dignified and satisfying for children.

Article 28 talks about right to education assuming that school is the only place where child can have a conducive environment for her growth based on culturally specific experiences. School is also important for socialization of the child but in many places, school is not the only way for socialization. Family, extended family and neighbourhood community play a huge role in socialization of the child. It also presents an argument saying that child such environment is crucial for child’s growth as it provides multi-dimensional learning where child learns about adult roles and work situations.