Dílogo de saberes sobre participación infantil [A Dialogue of Knowledges about Child Participation

Abstract

679 Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 17 No. 2 (2007) ISSN: 1546-2250 Diálogo de saberes sobre participación infantil [A Dialogue of Knowledges about Child Participation] Corona Caraveo, Yolanda and Morfín Stoopen, María (2001). Mexico City: UNICEF; 159 pages. ISBN 9706549811. Introduction1 This book is conceived from Utopia, from a place of trust, from the certainty that it is possible to envisage a different society. This sense is poetically expressed by the words of María Zambrano opening the book: “The human being walks through history, after himself, getting caught up in his hope, dreaming himself, sometimes inventing himself.” The contents of the book express the wish of a generation that allows itself the luxury of envisaging the future in order to act in the present, that wants to contribute to building a different society—a society centered around individuals’ dignity, where relationships may be more just, equitable, plural, and inclusive. Diálogo de sabers [A Dialogue of Knowledges] is also a book constructed from a distrust of absolute certainties, of final truths. It recognizes the need to permanently revise our premises. As the authors say, it is a book that initiates a dialogue with a question, assuming that the path has not yet been traced. However, its proposition has a clear framework—human rights and the values of democracy—while it acknowledges the fact that these are under permanent revision and construction but nevertheless are beacons for action. Diálogo de saberes speaks to us of democracy as a decision that society makes and that affects all the areas of life—public and private, relationships between couples, family dynamics, treatment of boys and girls, and work relationships. It speaks of democracy as a view of the world. 680 The challenge can be appreciated in the quotation from Alfredo Astorga and Diego Pólit: the easiest thing is to change the apparel, the simplest thing is to alter the scenery. The deepest thing is to change the everyday, those small things… that make up all of life. The main topic is participation, a basic ingredient of democracy as both a government style and a lifestyle. However, the book focuses on the need to include children in the construction of this democratic society we want to build. This is a treatise on child participation that uses a dialogue of knowledges as its resource; it promotes a conversation between theory and practice, asks questions of the experts on the subject, and includes the reflections of promoters in the field of child education who work in a variety of communities. Thus, the authors finely weave a conversation between theory and practice that enables us to become co-authors as the book encourages us to reflect on our own practice and generate new knowledge from it. Myths about Child Participation In this pioneering study on child participation, the authors express the conviction that the interests of future generations must be an integral part of the present and of public decisions. In this context, the meeting of academic work and the experience of civil society is enriching, because a dialogue between knowledges not only promotes learning but also contributes to the construction of citizenship. The book demystifies a great number of prejudices. Below are 11 myths that this work lays bare. 1. Child and Youth Rights Are a Threat to Adults The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) represents a great worldwide step forward in that it rethinks the relationships between States and children, and between the adult world and children’s world. However, in everyday life, this change has proved threatening to many adults who grew up within an authoritarian culture without awareness of their condition as holders of rights, 681 and therefore regard children’s rights as a pretext for licentiousness. The book also stresses the need to develop democratic relationships among children themselves in which they recognize one another as holders of rights, as well as learn how to converse and solve conflicts. 2. Children and Youth Are Incapable Beings The CRC brought an end to the designation of minors as negatively defined individuals—i.e., characterized by the things they lack or do not...