Check out Gabriele Galimberti’s collection of photographs of children around the world and their toys.

From the website:

“Yet even children worlds apart share similarities when it comes to the function their toys serve. Galimberti talks about meeting a six-year-old boy in Texas an a four-year-old girl in Malawi who both maintained their plastic dinosaurs would protect them from the dangers they believed waited for them at night – from kidnappers and poisonous animals respectively. More common was how the toys reflected the world each child was born into: so the girl from an affluent Mumbai family loves Monopoly, because she likes the idea of building houses and hotels, while the boy from rural Mexico loves trucks, because he seems them rumbling through his village to the nearby sugar plantation every day”.

From the H-Childhood Listserv:

“Call for panelists: Children and migration in African and the African diaspora at the European Social Science History conference, April 23-26, 2014.

“Following a successful interdisciplinary workshop on children and migration in Africa, held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2012, we invite abstracts for papers that explore this theme further. We particularly welcome papers that will expand the georgraphical scope of the panel into the African diasporas and that emphasize the experience of children themselves.

“While African children are heavily involved in migration, they remain obscure in grey and scholarly literatures dominated by the male labour migratory model. Furthermore, work on young migrants often conflates the social categories of ‘child’ and ‘youth’ and children themselves are divided into the binary states of agents or victims. Although recent scholarships on children and migration in Africa has acknowledged the importance of African children as discrete agents in migratory processes, analytical shortcomings remain.

“Papers could address, but are not limited to, the following issues:

family structures

patterns of fosterage

child circulation between Africa, Europe and the Americas

the role of education

child labour

religion and ritual

cultural exchange and conceptions of place and ‘home’”.

Interested scholars should send us an abstract in English (250 words max) and a short bio (200 words max) by April 15, 2013 to: Marie Rodet mr28@soas.ac.uk, Jack Lord jl79@soas.ac.uk, or Elodie Razy elodie.razy@ulg.ac.be.

The Centre for the Study of Play and Recreation, University of Greenwich and the Pollock Toy Museum Trust will host an exhibit and conference of multicultural toys and have issued a Call for Proposals.

From the H-CHILDHOOD Listserv:

“Toys have existed throughout human history in a few basic formats, while children have always created their own playthings. For centuries, craftsmen have created objects for children, which were available for purchase in places such as India and China before they were in Europe. Yet despite contemporary political espousal of innovation and entrepreneurship, the range of toys for sale in mainstream consumer outlets rarely reflects the cultural diversity of 21C Britain.

Globalization is usually understood as the dominance of particular brands rather than as an opportunity for diversification and dissemination of local materials.

June 3-8th, Exhibition at the Stephen Lawrence Gallery, University of Greenwich

June 8th, Conference

Following the success of previous multi-disciplinary conferences, we invite papers and short contributions from anyone interested in this area, including academics, post-graduate students, professionals working with children, and representatives of the toy industry.

Possible topics include:

Types of toys: balls, dolls, wheeled objected, construction toys, ‘small-world’ toys

Natural objects as playthings and the games they inspire(d)

Children’s experiences of toys, either contemporary or retrospective

Manufacture of toys and toy industries

Toys as training: the relationship between toys and social needs.

Please send a short summary of your proposed topic (no more than 250 words) to Mary Clare Martin at playandrecreation@gre.ac.uk. First deadline: March 31st, 2nd deadline, April 15th”.

2012 was an exceptionally busy year in the Canadian immigration system. Building on last year’s “Top 10 Canadian Immigration Stories of 2011,” Z Sonia Worotynec, Gregory Johannson, Bonnie Mah and Marco Campana present a similar top 10 list for 2012. For each story, we’ve provided a brief introduction, some background and related links and resources.

This year’s overarching theme: while 2011 was the year of consultations, 2012 was a year of change. It brought an explosive number of changes and proposed changes to the ways that Canada selects and treats immigrants, refugees and citizens as well as how we talk about immigrants and refugees. Multiple announcements and re-announcements from the Minister’s office made it challenging to figure out what changes had been made, what had been proposed only, and when changes or proposed changes would take effect.

1. Selection of Economic Class Immigrants
2012 brought big changes to the way economic-class immigrants to Canada are selected. The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), often considered the backbone of Canada’s economic immigration, was the target of many of the proposed changes.

2. Refugee Reform
2012 witnessed the most significant reforms to refugee policy in Canada in at least a decade, encompassing legislative and policy changes. The most substantive reforms were passed in Bill C-31, An Act to Amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

3. Facilitating Temporary Residence and Two-Step Immigration
The trend towards temporary resident growth continued in 2012. In particular, a number of changes made it easier for employers to bring temporary foreign workers to Canada.

4. Conditional Permanent Residence
The government enacted a two-year period of conditional permanent residence on sponsored spouses. This could mark a precedent for a new, longer road to permanent status for future Canadians.

5. Focus on Security
The government took various steps in 2012 that can be seen as extending its “law and order” agenda to the immigration and refugee system.

6. Community Response to Immigration and Refugee Reform
Alongside political debate over Bill C-31 (and its predecessors), a more dynamic dialogue has taken place between community members, groups, the media and politicians. The increasing salience of this debate on both sides of the political spectrum is important for all Canadians.

7. Culture Clash?
The niqab has been a hot button political issue in Canada for some time. According to the CBC, the wearing of the niqab has “divided Canadians and even the Muslim-Canadian community, which debates whether the niqab has any religious significance under Islam.”

8. Public Discourse and Immigration
Immigration jumped to the fore of public discourse in 2012. It was a year when information and discourse about immigration was as exceptionally high as it was polarized.

9. Increased Selectivity in Who Becomes a Refugee
In public and political discourse, 2012 marked a departure from the concept of political neutrality in refugee claims. We saw significant politicization of refugeehood, and more common acceptance of the concept that the political realm should have a stake in who receives protection.

10. Citizenship Changes
2012 saw significant changes and proposed changes to Canadian citizenship.

For details on these top ten stories, visit the Maytree blog.

BCs Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies (AMSSA) have released a report post their provincial learning exchange on the topic of Building capacity to support transitions of immigrant and refugee children and youth held this summer.

There were several goals for the event:

- to create opportunities for learning about current and emerging research and best practices

- to increase the skills, knowledge and practice of service providers who work with immigrant and refugee children and youth

- for networking, learning from each other and meeting new colleagues

- to re-energize and develop synergy amongst the different sub-sectors

- to identify emerging issues and priorities for future work and development.

The report includes background, goals and overviews and discusses what is called three big ideas for serving newcomer children and youth: Settlement, culture, and readiness.

The Child Recovery and Reintegration Network will hold a webinar on Alternative care and safe accommodation: What are we learning about alternative care for children generally and what does ‘safe accommodation’ for trafficked children look like.

The webinar will be held on Wednesday November 14, 2012, 3pm (London time).

The webinar will include presentations from:

• Emily Delap: Senior Policy Advisor at Family for Everychild
• Dr Lucie Shuker: Research Fellow in the International Centre for the Study of Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Young People at the University of Bedfordshire

For more information about the webinar please email nicole.mccloy@perth.uhi.ac.uk

Announcing a joint session of the Association for Research in Cultures of Young People (ARCY) and the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE) to be held at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC June 1-8, 2013.

From the call for papers:

“As people and institutions connect across the borders of nation-states, children are invariably part of the processes of transnationalism. Yet their presence has largely been ignored by much of the scholarship on transnationalism. While they may lack the abilities to fully articulate and engage with the social, political, and economic forces behind transnational movement and circulation, young people are just as affected by – and central to – these global currents. Thinking about childhood in a transnational context requires a greater awareness of how contemporary global culture is creating a unique experience of childhood itself, both of childhood, and for children themselves.

“The purpose of this panel is to put children and childhood at the center of discussions concerning transnationalism. We seek papers that investigate the ways in which ‘the child’ both impacts and is impacted by circulation across global borders. We encourage research that questions how children experience transnationality and how we understand the child and childhood in the context of nation states whose borders are not what they once were.

“Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

-researching children and childhoods in transnational contexts
-the experiences of children in the transnational context
-the relationships between global capital and the transnational child
-securitization and the transnational child
-children in transnational families
-cosmopolitanism and the transnational child
-transnational migration and the child”.

Deadline is November 1, 2012.

For more information, visit the ACCUTE C4P page.

immigrantchildren.ca reviewed the documentary Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth two years ago. It is a provocative and moving piece depicting the triumphs and challenges faced by undocumented youth in the US. Now, Papers, the book has been released. From the announcement:

“Papers the Book is here!! Order your copy today!

“This beautiful book includes 30 stories by undocumented youth and is illustrated with color drawings by undocumented artist Julio Salgado.

“These moving and inspiring stories were written by young people who range in age from 10 to 32. They were born in countries throughout the world and raised in the United States. The writers sent these stories to Graham Street Productions during the production of the documentary film Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth.

“For bulk and educational orders of this book, please contact us at info@grahamstreetproductions.com or 503-282-8683.

“For press inquiries or for a review copy, please contact us at
info@grahamstreetproductions.com or 503-282-8683″.

There is no one undocumented experience. Some of our parents crossed the border without authorization, some of us came here legally and overstayed visas, some of us were escaping persecution while some came seeking more prosperity. We are from all over the world. But somewhere in all our stories, there is a common thread: there is an act of love.
– Prerna Lal, Undocumented and Unafraid

Undocumented youth have been the leaders of a cultural transformation that has swept the country, making huge gains for the immigrant rights movement. Unapologetic and unafraid, they are writing their own history and establishing new rules in the game.
– Favianna Rodriguez, artist and co-editor of Reproduce & Revolt

In the dawn of the 21st century, undocumented youth are a living testament to what is enduring about the American spirit.
– Jose Antonio Vargas, award-winning journalist and founder of Define American

Caring for Canada’s Children was an online training event offered by Mothercraft 2009-2010, and can be found archived on the Mothercraft website.

Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Mothercraft offered Caring for Canada’s Children training course for settlement workers and other professionals working with newcomer families and children from birth to age six. The two-year online training program covered many topics, including:

The effects of migration policy on family reorganization

Adaptations to parenting: Healthy family functioning

The Challenges to cultural and geographic dislocation

The global worker: Cultural competence in the settlement sector.

Mothercraft is seeking renewed funding to support updated training to include a training manual and future professional training.

If you participated in Mothercraft’s Caring for Canada’s Children, and have feedback, please respond to the following questions via email to Cindy Kwan at ckwan@mothercraft.org .

1.  Since the Caring for Canada’s Children training, have you found the information useful in your professional work?

2. Would you be interested in a more thorough updated training manual focused on newcomer families: issues for families with infants and young children under six years of age?

3.  Please share a quick comment with us about the Caring for Canada’s Children training and its use in your professional work.

Responses are due by Friday, August 24, 2012

The International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care is (from their website) “a multidisciplinary journal focusing on international migration. The journal’s focus includes coverage of labour migration, asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants, with an emphasis on health and social care and mental health issues.

“The following themes are of particular interest to the journal:
- Health care of migrants and refugees
- Impact of displacement on health and social care needs
- Treatment of refugee children
- Impact of family separation
- Human trafficking
- Integration of migrants and refugees”.

Submissions should be sent to the Editor, Professor Charles Watters at charles.watters@rutgers.edu

Author Guidelines.