Children and Young People As Knowledge Producers

Despite the widespread promotion of children’s voices by activists and policy makers over the last decade, the potential for young people’s knowledge to impact on adult agendas and policy arenas is by no means a certainty. This book presents critiques of participation in settings where young people are the centre of attention. The complexities and power-dynamics of youth- adult relationships are observed and analysed in a wide diversity of study environments, from Hull to Sao Paulo, rural Lesotho to Ghana, using varied methods and over different time frames, but with a strong focus throughout on context, practice, impacts and associated ethical considerations. The central concern of the book is not whether young people can produce better knowledge than adults, but rather how to better understand the different knowledges which emerge from diverse actors within different generations in order to ensure that the maximum benefits accrue to children and young people with and for whom the research is conducted.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Children's Geographies.

Gina Porter is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University, UK. She has been conducting research into participatory methodologies for many years, principally in sub-Saharan Africa. Her recent work has focused on the co-production of knowledge with children and young people in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa, and with older people in Tanzania.

Janet Townsend is a visiting fellow at the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, UK. She is feminist who has engaged in participatory research with poor women in low income countries. She is concerned with issues of poverty, power, self-empowerment and the (dangerous) power of academics, particularly those in prosperous countries.

Kate Hampshire is a Reader in the Department of Anthropology, a Lecturer in the Health and Human Sciences and a Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing at Durham University, UK. She works on children and young people’s health and wellbeing in various settings, using participatory research approaches. Her recent research includes (with Gina Porter) co-production of knowledge with young people in Ghana, Malawi and South Africa, children’s use of medicines in Ghana, and social wellbeing among school-children in Northeast England.