Reflections on Interdisciplinarity in the Study of Childhood in the Past

Abstract

ABSTRACTOne of the hallmarks of research on childhood in the past is inclusive, interdisciplinary thinking. This reliance on interdisciplinarity to produce robust scholarship speaks, in part, to the ways we think about children and childhood today, as simultaneously embodied, material, cognitive, intersectional, relational, and developmental. Scholars working and connecting across disciplinary boundaries are also a product of the relatively recent emergence of childhood as an area of scholarly interest and the marginalization of the topic in traditional disciplinary silos. This paper takes a unique approach to addressing the interdisciplinary nature of scholarship on children and childhood in the past. Four scholars have produced reflective essays: a theatre historian, an art historian, an archaeologist/teaching professional, and a bioarchaeologist, which offer perspectives and insights into the importance of interdisciplinary thinking in their own work, and by extension in their larger fields of disciplinary practice.