I discovered a new word

By Thomas Pololi (Museum of Children's Notebooks, Italy), translated by Elisa Viale (EMMIR - European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations - Edition 13)

Original Publication: Ho Scoperto una Parola Nuova, in Quarantotto, Vol. 4, pgs. 11 – 15, February 2023

Translator’s Introduction

Delving into childism means recognizing the importance of language. Thomas Pololi writes about a new word he discovered, and in this text he describes and reflects what he learned about childism. This is a direct translation from Italian to English. Although some ideas may not fully with the decolonial perspective of childism, I have chosen to preserve the original meaning of the text.

“Childism” is a term used in the field of childhood studies to refer to the “empowerment of children as a marginalized group,” in contrast to “adultism” which indicates “prejudice and systematic discrimination against young people.”

Childism is the child-centered equivalent of feminism, and in my opinion it is a wonderful word. I only discovered it recently, and I believe it should be used and spread more widely, to prevent it ending up like as the term ‘childishness’, by taking it out of the hands of those who use it negatively to describe childish or naive attitudes or actions, or a negative tendency of society to indulge every whim of young people and the infantilization of adults. The idea of childhood that stick to an adult, for some reason, is considered by some as an illness, but at the same time it is often said that the most brilliant people are the ones who remained children: a strange contradiction.

Anyway, the term childism was born with an ambiguous connotation in the academic context. Its first usage dates back to 1975, in psychiatry, where it meant “the presumption of superiority of an adult over a child,” something very similar to what, in childhood studies, is instead considered its opposite: adultism.

Without going too deep into the specialized debate around the term, I will simply say that, as a non-expert, I prefer the positive use of the word “childism”: I find it more logical and natural, because, by analogy, I cannot imagine a reversal of meaning of the term “feminism”, that “feminism” could, as masculism, refer to a presumption of superiority.

Then, the word childism is not only beautiful and constructive, but also new. And a new sound is needed to make room for itself among the surrounding background noise: that of adultism, which dominates our society.

There is no doubt that our world is deeply and pervasively adultist. Let us think about how our living spaces are produced, or more simply, to the offensive use of the word child without anyone taking offence. What can a child feel when a person addresses someone who did something incredibly stupid as a child? I believe there is no more striking example of discrimination perpetuated or tolerated by adults toward younger people.

A discrimination that is often hard to identify and oppose, also because there are no words to describe it. If concepts like adultism and childism became more common, I believe, everything would be easier.

The main promoter of the popularization of “childism” (in its positive sense) is certainly John Wall, professor of Philosophy, Religion and Childhood Studies at Rutgers University in the United States.

Wall has written numerous books: he has worked on children’s rights, on children involved in armed conflicts, and on ethical and moral thought. In 2010, in his book Ethics in Light of Childhood, he introduced the concept of childism as “to give value to children’s experiences in order to transform social norms”.

Wall's commitment extends beyond the academic and educational spheres: in his university he created an organization, the Childism Institute, that gathers a network of researchers and activists and whose motto is “Empowering children by critiquing norms and structures”.

Through his work, specifically the publication of the book Give Children the Vote: On Democratizing Democracy, Wall succeeded in activating a debate about the right to vote for children, that recently landed in Italy thanks to the article on the Guardian shared by the Internazionale. Even in this field, Wall did not limit to share ideas: he contributed to found the Children’s Voting Colloquium, “an international consortium of scholars and activists that collaborates to remove the voting age at local, national, and international level”.

I listened to some, very interesting, interviews with Wall (you can find the links on the Childism Institute website).

Wall explains with passion and insights, but also with the logical precision of a philosopher, the various reasons why the right to vote, and more broadly the right for children to have the power and the structures to influence decisions about the society, would be desirable to improve not just children’s lives but everyone’s lives.

In his reflections, he traces a long thread that connects the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Fridays for Future movement, and children’s parliaments, which now exist in about thirty countries (unfortunately not in Italy), and which in some cases even hold a certain degree of power. In these cases, Wall explains, it is not that of European parliaments as one can imagine, but ironically the one of the poor or developing countries, the one where due to their social structure children are actually involved in community life, for instance through their work: it happens in India, but also in Bolivia and Perù, where there are even movements of children workers that defend their rights (a bit like in New York in 1899 with the strike of the newsboys, youngsters who were distributing newspapers, or in Italy in 1902 with the strike of the piscinine, the apprentice seamstress of Milan)

At the end of each interview, punctually, the crucial question arises: what can we actually do to promote childism and oppose adultism?

According to Wall, first, we need to build the ground on which childism can grow that awareness of how much our society is adultist. A radical change of paradigm is proposed: the goal is not “giving the right to vote for children” but rather bringing society to embrace this idea and recognizing its necessity. Global movements like Fridays for future or assemblies like the Parliaments or the children’s councils are the tip of the spear of the childism movement. But to generate radical change, we need to take a comprehensive approach. Using new words to recognize adultist attitudes is important. Creating more space for children and youngsters’ participation, in every field, starting from the cultural and social one. Listen with respect and consideration for their opinions and experiences from the earliest stages of life.

In my own small way, I set myself the goal to contribute. I do not deal with childhood rights or developmental psychology (thus it is possible that this article, that I wrote driven by the enthusiasm for what is for me a fascinating world to explore, has some inaccuracies or rough oversimplification), but in the projects that I will develop as curator of an archive of childhood testimonies I will try to spread as much as I can, through concrete practices, this new word that I like so much: childism.