My co-editor Elena Xeni and myself are publishing a book through Progressive Connexions on the topic of Children and Evil. These can be literary or film representations of evil children. Or representations of evil children in popular culture. See below for a description of our book called Explorations of Fearful Children.

Full Book description: The main intervention and development for evil children studies that the book demonstrates is the exploration of how children function as a blank canvas for adult projections. This notion has not yet received adequate and systematic attention within the still emerging field of scholarship dedicated to iterations of the figure of the evil child. Rather, scholars in this budding field have mainly looked at paradoxical way children are represented as either evil or innocent. The volume proposed here will enrich this existing research by exploring the question how children come to be represented as evil. Furthermore, it’s new focus allows it to make this figure relevant for a wide range of disciplines.

Children are considered to be the “next generation” and, therefore, the future of the human race. When adults feel anxious about their future, this anxiety is projected onto children. This is why representations of evil children are so popular in mainstream media but is also why the nature of the children’s evilness changes depending on the historical period and area in which the representation was first conceptualized. This current volume aims to show the diversity in representations of evil children and explore the relationships between these representations and the circumstances and fears associated with them. Only a truly inclusive, interdisciplinary volume could adequately explore this question, which is why this book will necessarily incorporate these concepts as guiding principles. Explorations of Fearful Children is a truly inclusive volume, with chapters touching on topics such as LGBTQIA experiences, racism and trauma, and caste. This inclusivity is also present in geographical terms: the book includes case studies from Europe, North America, Australia and Asia.

In these times of wide-spread anxieties because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting medical, economic and societal crises, this volume couldn’t be more well-timed. The book’s premise that adult anxieties result in a specific emanation of a figure of an evil child, as a figure that represents the hopeless and dark future that lies ahead, becomes more relevant in times of heightened anxiety. Therefore, a better understanding of our ideas about “evil children” will help provide more insight into the coping mechanisms available to us in times such as these. Furthermore, it is our hope that the analyses presented will help people reflect on their own relationships with children and the ways in which these young people can become the unwitting victims of adult anxieties. 

Progressive Connexions is a not-for-profit research network dedicated to the development and
production of novel forms of interdisciplinary knowledge, experience and living. We enable people
from a wide range of areas and contexts to meet and engage in dialogue with each other across a variety of platforms in carefully crafted spaces that allow for the free exchange and equal interaction of ideas and sharing of best practices. We offer possibilities for expanding and developing those exchanges beyond the initial point of encounter so as to create a vibrant and expanding nexus of creative, global collaborations.

Please send your full length papers max word length of 5,500 words to Elena Xeni at elena_xeni@hotmail.com

Or to Gabrielle Everall at gabbyeverall68@gmail.com 

Deadline Tuesday the 17th of May 2022.