Interdisciplinary Introduction to Children's Studies

What is childhood? Is it supposed to be happy? And what can children's books, toys, and memoirs tell us about the experience of childhood in a certain time and place? This course is designed to introduce students to the field of children's studies, including readings in the history and literature of global childhood, excerpts from children's films and TV, visits from Wash U. faculty studying children across various disciplines, and real or virtual field trips to a children's museum and a juvenile detention facility. The course is intended to give students a richly detailed picture of how children and childhood are dealt with as subjects throughout the curriculum and the impact these approaches have had on how the greater society thinks about children. Freshmen are welcome to enroll. This course fulfills the Social Contrasts requirement in Arts & Sciences.