What is a child?

The video opens by questioning the definition of a 'child,' highlighting legal contradictions (e.g., age of adulthood vs. abortion rights) and the complex, contested nature of the concept despite its common use across professions. The speaker announces a focus on the concept of 'child' and 'childhood' through a historical lens.

The meaning of 'child' varies historically and culturally. Historically, children were sometimes seen as 'little adults,' capable of adult responsibilities. Culturally, in some regions, childhood is not left behind after death, and children often take on significant adult-like responsibilities like caring for siblings or working.

The concept of a child is philosophically complex, often defined against an adult human body as a lacking or incomplete version. The etymology of 'infant' (not speaking) illustrates this. An 'adult' is typically seen as rational, intelligent, and in control, while 'child' is often viewed as immature and underdeveloped. Even the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child positions adulthood as the ultimate goal.

The speaker introduces six key, often unconscious, figurations of childhood that shape teaching, research, and policy. These figurations all assume childhood as an inferior stage, with the adult as the normative ideal. They also rely on a nature/culture dichotomy, assigning adults roles to 'tame' or 'civilize' the younger human.

The six figurations are: the 'developing child' (unfinished, incomplete, needing guidance), the 'ignorant child' (empty vessel needing experience and instruction), the 'evil child' (born sinful, needing control and discipline), the 'innocent child' (vulnerable, needing protection and natural unfolding), the 'egocentric child' (lacking empathy, needing socialization), and the 'fragile child' (vulnerable, lacking resilience, needing protection and medication). These are influenced by various philosophers and religious beliefs.

These traditional figurations underpin research practices that privilege a specific type of intelligence and assume man-made binaries like nature/culture and adult/child, leading to exclusion. The speaker argues for reconfiguring the concept of 'child' to include different ways of understanding the world. This involves moving beyond language alone and embracing immersion, lived experiences, and the 'in-between' elements like atmosphere, sound, and technology.

Children are always part of intricate human and non-human relational networks, including technology. The speaker proposes viewing all humans, regardless of age, as dynamic, relational processes ('becomings') rather than static subjects. A reconfigured understanding of humans as indeterminate and unbounded nature-culture systems is urgently needed for justice towards children.