Turning Global Rights Into Local Realities - (Sociology of Children and Families) by Afua Twum-Danso Imoh (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Focusing on Ghana, the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence from European colonial rule and the first in the world to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, this book explores how dominant children's rights principles interact with the lived realities of a range of children's lives.

The author considers the changeability and inconsistencies of childhoods within this context and the factors that underpin these varied intersections, including cultural norms, British colonial legacy, the influence of Christianity, urbanization, and social, economic and political transformations.

Challenging one-dimensional portrayals of childhoods in the Global South, the author highlights the need for more holistic approaches to the study of children's lives and children's rights realization in Southern contexts.

Review Quotes

"It aims to highlight that as a result of the plurality of childhoods and childhood experiences, primarily as a result of the differential social positioning of groups attributable to historical as well as more recent social changes, different lived experiences of, and attitudes to, global children's rights norms exist within this context." Politics and Rights Review

"This book does a good job of explaining the need and, specifically, the scientific truth and necessity, for a more nuanced understanding of global childhoods. It is therefore warmly recommended to read for all scholars interested in childhood and children's rights, as well as for students (in my view, it provides excellent teaching material)." The International Journal of Children's Rights

About the Author

Afua Twum-Danso Imoh is Associate Professor in Global Childhoods and Welfare at the University of Bristol.