Call for Abstracts for International Handbook of Philosophy for Children
CALL FOR EXTENDED ABSTRACTS
You are warmly invited to submit abstracts for The Routledge International Handbook of Philosophy for Children, edited by Maughn Gregory, Joanna Haynes and Karin Murris.
For nearly 50 years the theory and practice of Philosophy for Children have developed over time and in diverse contexts and global settings, while responding to, and interacting with other philosophical and educational movements. In that time Philosophy for Children has become a dynamic, complex, controversial and socially critical movement that poses deep questions about teaching, learning and schooling. It has also made profound contributions to broader debates about childhood, philosophy, education and democracy.
The Routledge International Handbook of Philosophy for Children will be part of Routledge’s series of prestigious international handbooks, each a landmark publication that recognises and helps to define a particular field of academic theory, practice, and enquiry, and also indicates future directions for research and practice within that field. It is significant that the series editors at Routledge have recognised Philosophy for Children as a field that should be acknowledged through the publication of an international handbook. Though there have been previous international anthologies of scholarly essays on P4C in the past, none has attempted the kind of comprehensive overview of issues and positions or the assessment of the most important avenues of future research intended for this Handbook. This project is particularly timely with the recent deaths of leading figures Matthew Lipman, Ann Sharp and Gareth Matthews, which has led to deep reflection on their influence and given rise to new thinking.
The Handbook will offer a wide variety of critical perspectives on theories and practices of philosophy for and with children (P4C), providing new insights and identifying emerging questions regarding the key philosophical and educational debates that have been provoked by bringing philosophy to school classrooms and other learning contexts, and bringing children’s voices into moral and political arenas. The Handbook is intended to be engaging and provocative for established practitioners and scholars of P4C around the world, as well as for new students, postgraduates, researchers and critics.
Structure and Character of the Book
Introduction (by the editors)
Section I – Genealogies and Legacies of Philosophy for Children
Section II – The Democratic Nature of Philosophy for Children
Section III – Children and Childhood in Philosophy for Children
Section IV – What is Philosophical about Philosophy for Children? Knowledge, Imagination, Questioning and Concepts
Section V – The Pedagogy of the Community of Enquiry in Action: Epistemology and Social Learning Theory
Section VI – The Aesthetics of Philosophy for Children: Bodies and Spaces.
Section VII – Philosophical Texts and Philosophy for Children
Section VIII – Philosophy as a School Subject and Philosophy across the Scholastic Disciplines
Section IX – Research Directions and Methods in Philosophy for Children
Conclusions and Emerging Questions (by the editors)
Editorial Process
This call is for extended abstracts describing chapters in each of the thematic areas listed above. The editors will be working with a pool of peer reviewers to respond to the abstracts submitted, to guide editorial decisions and to comment on drafts of chapters. All extended abstracts will be peer reviewed by teams of reviewers to ensure high quality content and writing. The editors will then select abstracts to be developed into full chapters so as to create balance and coherence within the sections of the book. Full chapters will be reviewed and edited before final publication.
Guidelines for Full Chapters
Authors are encouraged to engage with both early and seminal texts and with critics of P4C, in producing chapters that contribute to a critical overview of a particular section of the Handbook. Full chapters should reflect a familiarity with the range and depth of scholarship that has already been done, and important developments of practice within the specific thematic areas identified above. They should address the rich diversity in those areas, including genuine theoretical conflicts, in order to provide new perspectives, questions and openings for dialogue within P4C and between P4C and other fields.
Chapters should reflect an understanding of fields of scholarship that have informed and been informed by P4C, such as pragmatism, critical theory, post-structuralism, post-humanism and contemporary childhood studies. They should address relevant trends and movements in education such as global citizenship, children’s literature, argument literacy, emotional literacy, inclusive education, distance learning, critical pedagogy and democratic schools. Chapters may address specific school subjects such as science, maths, English, literacy, religious studies, social studies, environmental education, gifted education and special education, and in any educational context, including formal and informal education, community, preschool, youth, adult or higher education. Chapters may include perspectives of communities with whom authors have been working, whether children, young people, university students or adults.
Final chapters for the book will all be around 4000 words in length. All contributions must be original works and must not have been published elsewhere. The editors cannot provide translation or proof reading. If necessary, authors should employ a professional to assist with use of English and proof reading. Abstracts or chapters that fail to meet a good standard of academic English will not be considered.
Authors are encouraged to work collaboratively, in pairs or teams with others who bring different disciplinary perspectives and/or expertise with different kinds of practice to the chapter. Our intention is to recruit authors to a reflexive project that explicitly and deliberately works with the tensions and diversity in the field to make academic progress and strengthen thinking. Preference will be given to those who co-author in the ways suggested above. In addition, the editors are committed to inclusivity and will make editorial decisions on the basis of ensuring diversity of discipline, geographical region, origination and reference to differences such as race, gender, social class, age as well as intersectionality.
There will not be any royalties for contributing authors. The editors will donate 50% of any profits to the International Council of Philosophical Inquiry with Children (ICPIC).
Guidelines for Extended Abstracts
Abstracts should be approximately 750-1000 words in length and provide a strong sense of the structure, nature, content and style of the proposed chapter. They should include a suggested title, an indication of how the proposed chapter would contribute to a particular section of the Handbook, an indication of key sources that will help to shape its argument, analysis and discussion, and a bibliography.
Given the scale of the project the editors will be sticking to a firm timeline:
- Please send extended abstract as Word file attachment to philosophyforchildrenhandbook@plymouth.ac.uk by 31stOctober 2014.
- Feedback and acceptance/rejection of abstracts by 23rd January, 2015.
- First drafts of chapters will be required by 1st May, 2015.
- Final drafts will be required by 1st September 2015.
- Publication 2016.