New book co-edited by Claudia Mitchell: "Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods"

Professor Claudia Mitchell and April Mandrona have co-edited a new publication, Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods (Rutgers University Press). The publication features a foreword by Relebohile Moletsane, JL Dube Chair in Rural Education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, and contributions from 22 authors.

Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods brings together visual studies and childhood studies to explore images of childhood in the study of rurality and rural life. The volume highlights how the voices of children themselves remain central to investigations of rural childhoods. Contributions look at representations and experiences of rural childhoods from both the Global North and Global South (including U.S., Canada, Haiti, India, Sweden, Slovenia, South Africa, Russia, Timor-Leste, and Colombia) and considers visuals ranging from picture books to cell phone video and television. 

“Visual Encounters in the Study of Rural Childhoods is a welcome addition on many fronts," wrote author Pamela Riney-Kehrberg in a recent review. "It tackles rural childhood in many locations around the world, both Global North and Global South, and it does so by means of studying the visual. Instead of taking images of carefree rural childhoods at face value, the authors delve into their hidden meanings. What are we really seeing in these visions and versions of childhood? This is recommended reading for scholars in many fields: childhood studies, rural history, history of gender and sexuality, and so many others.”

Claudia Mitchell is a James McGill Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education, and director of the McGill Institute for Human Development and Well-Being (IHDW). She has written extensively in the area of girlhood studies and is the co-founder and editor-in-chief for the award-winning Girlhood Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Dr. Mitchell was recently named a Research Fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. In 2016 Mitchell received the top research honour of the SSHRC, the Gold Medal, and was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

April Mandrona is an assistant professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Canada. She is the editor of Canadian Art Teacher. Dr. Mandrona was a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Integrated Studies in Education from 2014 to 2016.

By Stephen Lalla, Communications, McGill Faculty of Education

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