With this book, we hope to have provided numerous reasons to rethink the prevailing discourse and practice of children's rights. As such, we believe it is indispensable to transform the hitherto dominant concepts of (state) law and (subjective) rights. In the international human rights system, the principle of formal equality of legal subjects, which has repeatedly led to ‘paradoxes’ (Brown, 2002) in the enjoyment of rights, has been expanded by the introduction of specific rights (women's rights, children's rights, rights of persons with disabilities, rights of Indigenous peoples, and others) in the sense of powerless and disadvantaged groups of people. But it cannot stop there.

With regard to children's rights, we believe that an essential element of this transformation is to connect these rights with children's concrete experiences. This mediation is envisioned in the concept of Living Rights (Hanson and Nieuwenhuys, 2013; 2020). However, this concept is limited to ‘translating’ the legal rights, that is, those authorized by the state, into children's everyday lives and making visible the contradictions and conflicts of interest that arise. Instead, children, like other subaltern groups of people, would have to be enabled to formulate their own rights and to facilitate their use to shape the reality that surrounds them, without having to rely on or trust state authority (‘state power’).

Where this is done, rights are not formulated in an abstract way as ‘general rights’ that apply and are meaningful to all children in the world in the same way. In fact, they refer to specific life situations and indicate what needs to change in these distinct contexts in order to achieve a safe, dignified and satisfying life. Similarly, they are formulated in a language that does not require expert knowledge or legal experts to understand these rights. In existing legal language, these are understood as ‘moral rights’. In order for them to be understood as being more than moral admonitions that ultimately have no consequences, they rely on processes of self-empowerment that emerge from society and the collective action of young people. Since they have to deal with overcoming unequal distribution of power, they only have a chance if they see themselves as a ‘counter-hegemonic democratic project’ (Buckel, 2021: 270) or as ‘social and political counter-rights’ (Menke, 2018) that not only have their ‘own’ freedom in mind, but want to achieve a different society and world order.

Introduction

In this chapter, I explore how the lived childhoods of the Global South result from colonization and how children from popular sectors are affected by its aftermath in the postcolonial era marked by the coloniality of power. For children, being affected means being subjugated and humiliated in various ways, but it also ignites their resistance. The basic thesis is that the modern pattern of childhood is a colonial construction in the triple sense: it is inspired by the colonial relationship, it serves to justify colonial conquest, and in the postcolonial era, it serves to render invisible other childhoods that do not conform to the Western norm or to make them appear deviant and backward. After explaining the multiple forms of subjugation and humiliation of childhoods under conditions of coloniality, I explain the need for and possible ways of decolonizing childhoods and the practice of children's rights. I begin by highlighting some of the ideological underpinnings that, in my view, foster the subjugation and humiliation of children in colonial and postcolonial contexts.

Binary thinking as an ideological basis for humiliation

The subjugation and humiliation of children, to which I refer here from a decolonial perspective, finds its ideological basis in binary categories constructed in a hierarchical and pejorative manner, in which a distinction is made between ‘us’ (belonging, normalized) and ‘others’ (excluded, deviant), according to Edward Said ([1978] 2013), called ‘othering’ or ‘otherness’. This binary coding has its origins in the thoughts of philosopher Rene Descartes and continues to have an effect today. It refers to territories as well as to people and populations. I will now name some of these binary codes:

• • developed versus underdeveloped (technically, socially and culturally);

• • modern or progressive versus backward;

• • civilized versus barbaric;

• • cultivated versus nature-bound;

• • rational versus irrational;

• • self-controlled versus emotion-driven;

• • educated and conscious versus ignorant and stupid (mastery of a certain knowledge, a certain way of thinking, includes mastery of a certain language – discursive power);

• • ability or power to act versus inability or powerlessness to act (as a personal characteristic); and

• • superior versus inferior (in the sense of ‘power over’ and devaluing people).

With reference to similar binaries, Michael Bourdillon, Sylvia Meichsner and Afua Twum-Danso Imoh refer to the category of childhood as follows:

Why a book on modern mothering? Motherhood and mothering are probably among the most researched subjects within various social sciences (such as sociology, psychology, anthropology) and inter-related subdisciplines (sociology of the family, the psychology of motherhood; anthropology of motherhood), yet the pace of social changes – transformations to women's roles in society, changing structures of family, debates about gender equity in employment, societal attitudes towards reproductive politics, and changing parenting practices – necessitates constant updates on mothering as a social phenomenon and everyday practice. This co-edited book comprises international scholarly biographical perspectives on mothering in and across diverse social and cultural contexts, highlighting cultural nuances surrounding mothering and the complexity of ‘ordinary’ and ‘everyday’ mothering practices. Significantly, this book comprises contributions from western and eastern Europe, western Asia, Canada, Australia and Africa, illuminating the complexity of a range of inter-related factors (for example, socio-political, cultural and economic) that shape and reflect mothering practices in contemporary global societies.

The initial idea for this co-edited book on biographical approaches to modern mothering sparked intensive discussion between the co-editors and authors about the results of several research projects (international collaborative projects and individual research) and publications on mothering that the co-editors previously completed, and identified areas that required further intensive academic exchanges. The 2017– 2019 international biographical study of mothers that was part of the EC Horizon 2020 ISOTIS project (Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society) was led by Lyudmila Nurse at the Department of Education University of Oxford. She worked in collaboration with Kateřina Sidiropulu-Janků (co-editor and author in this book) and Jana Obrovská (author in this book), who conducted their research in Czechia, and Katarzyna Gajek (author in this book), who conducted her research in Poland. Lisa Moran conducted biographical, narrative work with mothers of children who were in long-term foster care and residential care in Ireland and the UK, and interviewed mothers seeking asylum in the Republic of Ireland. These collaborations included intensive discussions about newly evolving topics of non-mothering with Joan Cronin (author in this book), mothering in economically difficult circumstances and the experiences of women whose voices are often marginalised from contemporary policy making and societal forums, including lone mothers, women who are divorced and/or separated and foster mothers of children who are in the care of child welfare systems internationally.

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the marginalised and under-researched group of mothers of children with Down syndrome. Applying an intersectional feminist sociological lens, we examine how neoliberalism converges with race, class, gender and ableness to shape experiences of mothering in contemporary Australia. In researching these mothers’ stories and writing this chapter, we aim to impact the reader in a way ‘that writing in that hectoring genre, prose, cannot’ (Richardson, 2018, p 663). According to the Cambridge Dictionary, hectoring is ‘to talk and behave towards someone in a loud and unpleasantly forceful way, especially in order to get them to act or think as you want’. While interviewing the mothers in this study, listening to their interviews, and reading and re-reading their transcripts, we were confronted by the incessant ‘hectoring’ that these mothers contended with in their interactions with neoliberal institutions (primarily medical, disability and welfare services), the broader community, and their families. Furthermore, despite contending with such neoliberalism-imbued hectoring, mothers shared their stories with agency, evocative language, and often humour. Hence, we considered it an ethical imperative that we did not reinforce the hectoring discourse and misrepresent the mothers’ experiences by sterilising the emotion in their stories to fit the ‘hegemonic (masculinist) disciplinary norms’ (Ellingson, 2009) of traditional academic research and writing.

We draw upon the scholarship of researchers who advocate for departing from traditional academic conventions in their scholarly work (Mackinlay, 2022), and utilise a ‘crystallisation approach’ by combining academic and creative writing (Richardson, 2000; Ellingson, 2009). Crystallisation, an approach conceptualised by Laurel Richardson (2000) and developed by Laura Ellingson (2009), brings together various forms of meaning-making and writing genres within an interpretative methodology (Ellingson, 2009) to provide researchers and readers with a ‘deepened, complex, thoroughly partial, understanding of [a] topic’ (Richardson, 2000, p 934). Within this chapter, we draw upon a variety of creative writing genres to present a narrative literature review, six case studies, and a provocative conclusion. We adapt the work of Neves et al. (2021), who research and write about loneliness in the elderly, as a stylistic guide that incorporates sociological and creative narratives in one crystallised piece. Each case study includes a sociological narrative with combined findings and discussion, a methodological explanation of our creative and analytical research and writing, and a creatively written account of the mother's story. These three components combined within each case study crystallise our findings.

Introduction

In the 1980s, I came into contact with children in Nicaragua who lived in great poverty in the midst of a cruel war during which they had witnessed a massacre or lost relatives. I was amazed at how these children mastered their complicated daily lives. They did what needed to be done, they built their own toys, and they brought life to the rural cooperative where I stayed for a few weeks. To my great surprise, they were generally in good spirits. A few years later, when I started working with children in a city in the same country whose parents had disappeared, who lived on the streets and kept themselves afloat with odd jobs or petty theft, I had similar experiences. I kept asking myself where the strength of these children came from, not to lose courage even in seemingly hopeless situations.

This and subsequent similar experiences have led me to explore theoretical concepts that can help to understand and support coping with extremely stressful life situations. One such concept is called resilience. It has witnessed a boom in recent decades and has advanced to become a key concept to explain such behaviour in view of the extreme difficulties experienced. ‘The idea of resilience seems to be associated with an almost magical quality that is now almost indispensable in any field of practice’ (Gebauer, 2017: 15). It has been repeatedly pointed out that the concept cannot only be understood in different ways, but is also often used arbitrarily. The emancipatory intentions originally associated with it have increasingly been reversed and begs an answer to the concept of resilience's suitability for emancipatory action. This also applies to social and educational work with children.

First, after an outline of the development of the concept of resilience, I will examine some of its applications and critical objections. I will then discuss some immanent limitations and contradictions of the resilience discourse and ask whether it is possible to conceive of other concepts within its framework. Finally, I will formulate some reflections on the extremely stressful conditions children live in and how they can defend themselves and address the causes of their suffering. I will focus on what needs to be considered here.

Introduction

In this chapter, I chart my own life journey and consider the lived experiences of 12 Irish women who deliberately or inadvertently decided not to have children. That decision is influenced by a complex range of inter-related factors relative to their childhoods and upbringing, their relationships, their careers and their personal ambitions. The research has an Irish focus, given the author's familiarity with the Irish landscape. However, the chapter also includes a review of the international literature, which provides useful and valuable insights into the Irish context given that it focuses on western democracies, which have followed broadly similar trajectories in terms of the expansion of women's rights and women's choices around control of their bodies and their reproductive rights, access to gender-equitable education and opportunities for sustainable employment. This chapter also reflects some of the significant findings from my recently published PhD research, which is referenced throughout (Cronin, 2021).

Self-reflection

My journey to non-motherhood has been straightforward and unencumbered, given that I never deliberated about whether or not I would have children; I always knew that it was not something I wanted to pursue. From as far back as I can remember, children never featured in the life I imagined for myself, and non-motherhood to me is as natural as motherhood is to other women. I have never experienced the maternal instinct that some women speak of, nor have I encountered any regrets. I am fulfilled in every aspect of life, through my relationship with my partner (who has four beautiful children, who range in age from 28 to 16), the wonderful relationships I share with my parents, extended family and friends, and through my work as an academic. I cherish the fact that my childfree identity has been fully embraced by the significant people in my life.

Methodology

The methodology and design for this research was informed by a feminist perspective, which focuses on the experiences of women, where the intention is to ‘make women visible, raise their consciousness and empower them’ (Holloway and Wheeler, 2013, p 258). The paper draws on qualitative semi-structured interviews with 12 Irish women who provide reflective biographical accounts of their reasons for choosing to be childless, including the motives that influenced their decision and the challenges they encounter as consequence of pursuing a childfree identity.

Introduction

This chapter highlights the importance of utilising feminist methodology to amplify previously silenced voices of women in Ireland who have undergone a dissolution of marriage. Based on lived experiences, the voices of women in this research contest historically prescribed normative accounts of motherhood. Listening to previously silenced voices of women generates a firsthand understanding of historical, cultural and social processes on the lived lives of mothers. Feminist researchers seek to identify the subjective meanings that women assign to events and conditions in their lives, disregarding the traditional objective perspective that has historically dominated social science research, which seeks to gather information that relates to historical change, cultural events or the impact of social structures on individuals. Indeed, Lentin (1993) argued that the development of feminist research methodologies constituted a new paradigm, inviting scholars to pay attention to difference, women's voices and lived experiences. At a basic level and central to a feminist perspective is the view that researching accounts of women is not just about redressing an imbalance in the making and telling of history but a means of identifying possible continuities with women's oppression in the present (Chamberlayne et al, 2000).

Our research aimed to explore if and how interactional, social, cultural and historical conditions mediate women's stories: as Marx observed, men and women ‘make their own history but not … under conditions that they have chosen for themselves; rather on terms immediately existing, given and handed down to them’ (Marx, 1852/1983, cited in Denzin, 1989, p 10). Reflecting this assertion, our research required a methodology that could provide for a deeper understanding of constraining social structures on individual lives. Biographical narrative data collection and the voicecentred relational method of analysis provided a means by which this could be achieved.

Biographical research or biographical sociology is somewhat undefined, and encompasses terms such as narrative, biography, life history and life story, which are increasing in popularity. The defining feature of such research and a contributing factor to its rise in popularity is surmised by Shantz (2009, p 117), who states that biographical studies are ‘not simply the study of individual life but offer a unique approach to understanding individual–societal relations’ in a move away from traditional structure–agency dichotomies.

Introduction

Since the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) from 1989, children around the world have been regarded as persons with their own special rights. These include rights that are intended to enable children to influence their environment and all matters that affect them. But how far these so-called participation rights go and whether they also include political rights is disputed. They oppose social structures that nail children down to a subordinate position, which today is subsumed under the term adultism. In this chapter, we will discuss the question of how far political rights, especially the right of children to vote, can contribute to counteracting adultism and thus contribute to overcoming the colonized status of children and childhoods. This question will be discussed not only in relation to children living today, but also in relation to future generations and intergenerational justice. First, we will outline what is meant by adultism and its conflict-laden relationship with children's rights.

Adultism and children's rights

What is called adultism refers to the belittling of children by adults because of their age. Adultism is based on the unequal power and power imbalance between adults and children and is usually understood as the ‘abuse of power’ of adults over children (LeFrançois, 2014; Bell, 2018; Bergman, 2022). It often arises in the context of superiority, privilege, convenience and blanket assumptions about being a child. It can also occur between young people of different ages, to the extent that they themselves have already internalized adultist behaviours. Adultism is a specific form of discrimination. It manifests itself in derogatory behaviour towards younger people, but can also become entrenched in social, legal,and institutional structures.

The term adultism as understood today goes back to the psychologist Jack Flasher (1978). It first became widespread in the United States and became a key word in the movements for equal rights for children and young people (see Bell, 1995; Fletcher, 2015). It was taken up in other world regions only after the turn of the millennium. It is mainly used to criticize educational methods and is associated with other forms of discrimination such as racism or sexism. While initially the relational aspects and psychological implications were emphasized, today systemic aspects and socio-cultural frameworks are also given more attention and there is talk of institutionalized or structural adultism, for example.

Introduction

In their article ‘Long-distance mothering in urban Kenya’, the authors conclude that, with rapid urbanisation, many female migrants will move into urban areas, with their families, seeking employment (Cotton and Beguy, 2020). This article, based on research from two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, shows that the fate of children's lives is an urgent policy concern surrounding female migration and mothering. Echoing this view, African feminist scholars have argued for the need to give voice to the varied yet nuanced richness of African women's lives, while at the same time acknowledging the commonalities they share (Heugh, 2011). As Bunwaree observes ‘For African feminists, rethinking diversity entails a new political and theoretical engagement with women's multiple identities and social positions’ (Bunwaree, 2004, p 154).

Some commonalities that women face in the course of their lives include caring, nurturing, observing, working, becoming mothers and/or mothering children in diverse family contexts (Clark et al, 2017; Gaydosh, 2019; Cotton, 2021). However, less is known about African women themselves and the specificities of social-mothering practices in these varied familial and community backgrounds. Often absent is an understanding and conceptualisation of African women's lives through their biographies, which form a central aspect of understanding society (Steady, 1981; Ogundipe-Leslie, 1994; Imam et al, 1997; Mikell, 1997).

This chapter devotes itself to the reconstruction of a single mother's biography, grounded in qualitative data obtained from analysis of her life narrative. Qualitative methods are used because they enable mothers’ voices to be discernible and further advance knowledge about social mothering as a concept. Melodi (a pseudonym), the mother in focus, is part of the ‘mama nguo’ female labour force offering a washing/laundry service, who live predominantly in informal settlements and provide services to middle-and upper-class families in Nairobi. While recognising the overwhelming poverty where Melodi lives, positionality, power relations and representation, all related to reflexivity, are discussed within the specificities of African feminist research and biographical interviewing. The focus on Melodi's life – belonging, doing, being, and becoming a mother – are influenced by social cultural norms related to social mothering in the Abaluhya culture, to which she belongs (Wandibba, 1997). The interconnectedness of individual life narratives, the role of agency and structure in everyday life, and how these enable an understanding of social mothering, provide significant insights into the challenges inherent in Melodi's life.

Introduction

Becoming a mother requires that women experiencing motherhood reconstruct their identity and rebuild the concept of oneself, as well as building a set of ideas, beliefs and self-judgements. The points of reference for interpreting situations and developing meanings of mothering are the existing social patterns, established norms and social expectations of the role of a mother. Women evaluate and prioritise their participation in various areas of social life (family, profession and social terms), and create motherhood practices and strategies for performing the role that evolve during the stages of motherhood. Recognising, defining and interpreting one's role as a mother is connected with assessment of oneself in the role in reference to the definitions of other people who may acknowledge or question the woman's competences. Therefore, identity becomes a configuration of a person's self-identification in the context of their social interactions (Hałas, 2006).

In the Polish linguistic picture of the world, ‘mother’ is one of the key existential categories, like home, family, land and nation, and occupies a high position in the axiological system that results from family, religion and national traditions (Bartmiński, 2012). Family and the roles it involves constitute a significant area of identification, although men and women differ in this respect. Women attach much greater significance to the role of a parent than men do; children and marriage change their self-identification, and being a mother and a wife is put before being a person and a woman. Particularly for women with a lower education level and those living in small towns, traditional roles seem natural and without an alternative (Titkow, 2007). Motherhood is also valued by society, such that a woman who takes on the role of a mother and fulfils it well improves her status in the family and the local community (Maciarz, 2004).

Both public and scientific discourses disseminate the motherhood models that are socially legitimised and exist in a given culture, standardising the process of becoming and being a mother. The two opposite positions between which variants emerge may be termed conservative and liberal discourses.

In the following sentences, I set out the basic line of argument of this book. First, I clarify why I think it is necessary to consider issues of children and children's rights in relation to colonization and coloniality. I then explain how I understand children's rights and why I consider them indispensable for the lives of children in particular at the grassroots. I also show what must happen and be considered for these rights to be experienced by children as meaningful and that they can be used by them in their own interest. In order to get a concrete idea of children's living conditions and collective interests, I explain my understanding of the concepts of ‘the popular’ and of ‘popular childhoods’ as well as ‘childhoods of the Global South’. Since I am primarily concerned with how identities of resistance emerge in these childhoods, I also consider it necessary to get an idea of colonization processes. In this book, due to my personal and professional biography, I focus on the subcontinent of Latin America and look for the traces colonization has left on social relations, on thoughts and feelings of young people, and how these can be counteracted. At the end of the Introduction, I give an overview of the individual chapters of the book.

Why and how do I speak of the colonization of childhoods?

Following the publication of the book Decolonizing Childhoods: From Exclusion to Dignity (Liebel, 2020), some people raised the question whether, analogous to the colonization of peoples and territories, it is possible to speak of a colonization of childhood(s). For this reason, I will explain how I understand colonization as a concept and why I find it meaningful to apply it to children and childhoods.

I understand colonization as a form of submission of people and living spaces against their will and to the detriment of the people in those living spaces. Certainly it must be borne in mind that the colonization is situated in a specific historical context, the era of European colonialism (and imperialism), and that it cannot be simply transposed to other historical or social contexts. It is equally important to bear in mind that the term has come to be understood in a broader sense as the ‘internal colonization’ of the lifeworld (Habermas, 1981). When I speak of the colonization of childhoods, I have in mind both meanings of colonization.