Afghanistan/United States: Call for papers on cultural factors that shape lives of Afghan children

As a sequel to their edited volume, Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women (University of California Press, March 2011), Jennifer Heath, independent scholar, author and editor of nine books, and Ashraf Zahedi, a University of California, Berkley scholar, are assembling an edited book about  the children of Afghanistan. The first of its kind, this comprehensive collection will examine the impact of socio-economic, political, and cultural factors that shape the lives of Afghan children from birth to the legal marriage ages of 16 and 18 and that contextualizes their experiences in diverse social settings. Articles (no longer than 5,000 words) will be due on May 1st, 2011. 

The anthology will cover many areas, from early childhood socialization in war and peace to education, literacy, vocational training and apprenticeship, refugee camps, mental and physical health, including disabilities and nutrition, children's songs, folktales and art, sports and play, child soldiers, orphans, life on the streets, child labor and children as family breadwinners, sexual exploitation, growing up in prison, marriage, family violence, and other issues vital to understanding, empowerment and transformation.

Please send abstracts (300-400 words) and short bios to Jennifer Heath  HeathCollom[at]comcast.net and Ashraf Zahedi ashrafzahedi[at]hotmail.com by March 1st, 2011. Please send all written materials as WORD.doc and all images as JPEGs. 

Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women, University of California Press, forthcoming March 2011. 

http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520261860