Secuencia. Revista de Historiay Ciencias Sociales, edited by   the Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, contributes to its field of expertise by occasionally publishing special themed editions coordinated by senior researchers in addition to its regular editions.  These editions are a collection of original papers which, due to their thematic affinity, address certain issues from a specific point of view, allowing for deeper analysis of certain topics.      

On this occasion, specialists are invited to submit research papers that are unedited, original and have been produced as a result of the evaluation of primary sources, to be included in the special edition on the topic of: “Childhood spaces and material culture in Latin America (19th and 20th centuries)” coordinated by Dr.  Beatriz Alcubierre Moya and Dr. Susana Sosenski, which will be published in January 2018.

Over the past decade, the study of childhood has begun to make headway in the field of Latin American historiography in an increasingly instrumental way, establishing its independence from other academic traditions such as the history of education and the history of the family.  This has given rise to the adoption of a wide variety of approaches, framed between social and cultural history, which allow issues to be addressed such as the construction of the concept of childhood, the definition and redefinition of age groups, and the development of sex-generic identities.  In addition, links have been determined with very current topics such as health, demography, homelessness, crime, discrimination, violence, bullying, employment, gambling and consumerism among many others.  

Given the number of topics that are directly and indirectly linked to the history of childhood, this call for papers is limited to a specific line of study.  The special edition of Secuencia will bededicated to the analysis of the spaces and material culture that were designed, constructed and developed for children in Latin America during the 19th and 20th centuries:  amusement parks, shopping malls, schools, libraries, and children’s rooms in addition to objects, furniture, books, magazines, clothes, toys and so on, which led to the reshaping of the notions of childhood and child practices.  All of this was framed in political, economic and social contexts largely determined by the development of the consumerist society.  The objective of this dossier is to compile a collection of papers which discuss the relationship between spaces, material culture and childhood in the creation of everyday life and child identities in the Latin American context, contributing to the development and consolidation of a historiographical tradition focusing on the study of childhood.

The papers must adhere to the guidelines of the journal Secuencia (regarding length, academic quality and publishing criterion), available for consultation at the following website:  http://secuencia.mora.edu.mx

The deadline for the submission of papers is November 30 2016. Papers will be submitted to a double-blind review.  The entire process of the reception of papers and reviews will be carried out by the OJS publishing administrator.  The coordinators responsible for this special edition will conduct a previous selection of papers before submitting them for review with the help of Secuencia journal’sEditorial Committee.  The result of the review is not open to appeal.   Those papers which are not selected for publication in the special edition will be considered for a regular issue of the journal.

Mailing address:   secuencia at institutomora.edu.mx