„One hundred years since the Geneva Declaration“ A historical perspective on childhood, children and their rights in the 20th century
Organized by the Institute for Lithuanian History, Nordostinstitut (IKGN) and
Herder-Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe
Venue: Institute for Lithuanian History, Vilnius
Date: September 25-27, 2024
In 1924, the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child addressed for the first time all the nations of the world to affirm the duty of States and individuals to systemic care for children. The Declaration set out 5 points covering aspects of: children’s physical and mental health, safety, support, and the development and fulfillment of their talents and abilities. 100 years after the Declaration, the young scholars conference invites to explore the development and implementation of the law of children and childhood protection, everyday practices, issues and challenges from the perspective of social history with a focus on the 19th century. But already since the demographic revolution of the late 19th century, the view of the relation between families children and states had changed dramatically. Children were seen as a crucial element of the state’s power, and their position in their families became a topic of public interest. These aspects have become of research interest lately. So, children’s and childhood history has become a recent trend in historiography, combining family and social history. Nevertheless, Eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region seem to be under-researched in this respect.
The 100 years anniversary of the Declaration seems to be a great incentive for further research, we aim at taking an interdisciplinary and retrospective look at the theoretical and practical dynamics of these processes and the resulting development of children’s rights policies in a comparative perspectivies in the Baltic Sea region,Eastern Europe and beyond.
Hence, the joint conference aims at helping early career scholars tying up their professional network: It aims at encouraging interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives on historical research on childhood and children’s rights as well as children-related family policies. We invite early career scholars (Master and PhD-students and early Postdocs) from various disciplines to submit proposals on 19-20th century childrens history as well as on related topics. Papers with a focus on the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe. as well as papers with important methodological approaches or with a (European) comparative perspective are highly welcome. The idea is to bring together researchers with different methodologies and theoretical approaches to the subject.
Papers are welcome which seek: