Jamal J. Elias
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520290075
- eISBN:
- 9780520964402
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520290075.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter outlines the aims of the book and introduces its methodology. It explores the notion of childhood as a construct used by adults for emotional, social, and legal purposes. It provides an ...
More
This chapter outlines the aims of the book and introduces its methodology. It explores the notion of childhood as a construct used by adults for emotional, social, and legal purposes. It provides an overview of influential theories concerning childhood, distinguishing between biological and social models of development, and highlighting that the majority of such studies have been carried out in the Global North. It introduces the concept of the aesthetic social imagination as the basis for understanding the social functions of visual and material objects, and in the process, it explores the nature of visuality and the agency of objects. Finally, it provides a brief overview of the use of visual images in literature for children in Islamic societies.Less
This chapter outlines the aims of the book and introduces its methodology. It explores the notion of childhood as a construct used by adults for emotional, social, and legal purposes. It provides an overview of influential theories concerning childhood, distinguishing between biological and social models of development, and highlighting that the majority of such studies have been carried out in the Global North. It introduces the concept of the aesthetic social imagination as the basis for understanding the social functions of visual and material objects, and in the process, it explores the nature of visuality and the agency of objects. Finally, it provides a brief overview of the use of visual images in literature for children in Islamic societies.
Jamal J. Elias
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520290075
- eISBN:
- 9780520964402
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520290075.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book explores the emotional space occupied by children in modern Islamic societies. Focusing on visual representations of children, primarily from modern Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, it examines ...
More
This book explores the emotional space occupied by children in modern Islamic societies. Focusing on visual representations of children, primarily from modern Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, it examines important concepts ranging from cuteness, innocence, devotion, violence, and sacrifice to emotion, aspiration, virtue, performance, nationhood, community, and gender. It grounds the study of the visual representation of children in a concise treatment of the history of childhood, education, and religion, as well as the national histories of the societies in question. In addition to exploring a topic that has never been studied comparatively before, it extends the boundaries of scholarship on emotion, religion, and visual culture, arguing for the centrality of conceptions of childhood to adult intentionalities at a societal level. It demonstrates the ways in which emotion is enacted in a sociocultural space that one might call an emotional habitus, ecosystem, or an emotional regime. It also uses the concept of an aesthetic social imagination to explain how public emotional acts shape the lives of more than the individual who enacts them. Emotions are kinetic and directional, directed inward at the individual's sense of self at the same time as they are directed at other members of society. This quality allows them to function morally as well as aspirationally.Less
This book explores the emotional space occupied by children in modern Islamic societies. Focusing on visual representations of children, primarily from modern Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan, it examines important concepts ranging from cuteness, innocence, devotion, violence, and sacrifice to emotion, aspiration, virtue, performance, nationhood, community, and gender. It grounds the study of the visual representation of children in a concise treatment of the history of childhood, education, and religion, as well as the national histories of the societies in question. In addition to exploring a topic that has never been studied comparatively before, it extends the boundaries of scholarship on emotion, religion, and visual culture, arguing for the centrality of conceptions of childhood to adult intentionalities at a societal level. It demonstrates the ways in which emotion is enacted in a sociocultural space that one might call an emotional habitus, ecosystem, or an emotional regime. It also uses the concept of an aesthetic social imagination to explain how public emotional acts shape the lives of more than the individual who enacts them. Emotions are kinetic and directional, directed inward at the individual's sense of self at the same time as they are directed at other members of society. This quality allows them to function morally as well as aspirationally.
