World Archaeological Congress (WAC-8), Kyoto, 28th August- 2nd September 2016.
Session: T05-M Experiences of Children in Conflict
NOTE: Early bird registration and submission of papers for the WAC8 conference CLOSES on April 30
Organisers: Kirsty Squires and Caroline Sturdy Colls
Contact: kirsty.squires(at)staffs.ac.uk
Abstract: Studies that focus on conflict in both the past and present lay emphasis on the roles and experiences of adult soldiers and civilians. In contrast, the younger members of society are frequently ignored. The study of childhood in the past more generally is becoming a rapidly growing research area. An examination of archaeological remains, literature, and art has shed light on how children lived in the prehistoric and historic past. The aim of this session is to highlight how the active participation and persecution of children in conflict changed their roles and responsibilities within immediate kin groups and wider society.
Evidence of children in conflict may take a variety of forms, including skeletal remains, material culture and representation in objects, literature, art works, propaganda etc. The session encourages papers focused on any period from prehistory to the 21st century which consider: the roles and responsibilities of children in conflict; their presence or absence in the archaeological record; physical evidence of children’s involvement in warfare; children as “collateral damage” or active participants; individual life stories; and spatial analysis of children in conflict. We welcome papers from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and cross-disciplinary works are particularly welcome.
We expect to attract papers which deal with: medieval warfare, the Holocaust, Spanish Civil War, First World War, child soldiers in Africa, Roman warfare and prehistoric skeletal trauma.
Keywords: children; conflict; warfare