The course draws on psychoanalytical, Marxian, and cultural studies writing to ask, How has the figure of the child been constructed since the 1970s? The course is divided into three sections: The Child, Parents, The School. It pays special attention to the narrative and intersectional construction of these figures and institutions. Students will sharpen their knowledge of influential theoretical approaches in the humanities, and also develop accounts of how such approaches guide analysis and argument about childhood. Authors read include: Ariès, Berlant, Butler, Freud, Foucault, Edelman, Lacan, Phillips, Rose, Sahlberg, Zipes.