by Dr Raahi Adhya

What is childhood? A time of natural innocence, a social construction, or a site of complex intergenerational negotiations? This course brings together perspectives from cultural studies, urban anthropology, and new media in order to unpack the processes that underlie childhood identities and experiences. From Peter Pan’s eternal youth to creepy dolls, playgrounds in Singapore to TikTok trends, the course explores tensions between childhood as an idealised concept and the realities children navigate. This approach will encourage students to rethink childhood not as a universal truth, but as a dynamic, evolving idea — one that children themselves increasingly reshape.