The Voices of British Child Migrants: A New Approach Toward Analysing the 19th- and 20th-Century Child Migration Schemes

《英国儿童移民的声音：一种分析19世纪和20世纪儿童移民计划的新方法》项目提出了一个对子巴特恩研究和近期全球历史至关重要的问题，并将其应用于一群在这一背景下迄今基本上被忽视的历史参与者--儿童。该项目以英国向澳大利亚和加拿大的儿童移民计划为例，解决边缘化行为者的声音问题。将从两个层面探讨这些问题：(1)在批判性地反思这项工作的实践和方法局限性的同时，将听到儿童的声音。(2)将分析儿童的声音在儿童移徙计划本身历史上的作用。共同的认识论兴趣在于儿童声音在过去的作用，在达成协议和历史研究这一过去方面。研究的时间跨度从19世纪末的儿童移民计划到20世纪60年代结束。该项目还将对20世纪80年代以来在政治和学术上承认过去的过程进行展望。该项目将首次将亚巴特恩研究、近期全球历史和儿童研究的理论和方法结合起来，对儿童移徙计划进行历史分析。除了从英国、澳大利亚和加拿大的公共和私人档案中选择一种新的来源外，该项目还将扩大学者们迄今使用的来源的范围。该项目的目标是(1)通过挖掘儿童的声音并承认他们自己的权利，对儿童移民计划产生新的见解，(2)通过调查儿童声音在儿童和儿童史中的作用，为儿童研究做出贡献。(3)为关于历史和传记中边缘化人物的代表性和“发言”或“被倾听”的理论和方法的讨论作出贡献。到目前为止，对来源和学术文献的分析已经导致了早期的工作假设，这些假设将随着项目的继续而进一步分析。基于这些假设，必须批判性地重新考虑赋予儿童判断和决定自己情况的权力的历史发展。从强调儿童受保护的权利到强调他们的参与权，这一形象在学者中得到了广泛的认同，这基本上是一个线性演变，必须描绘出更多细微的差别。

The project "The Voices of British Child Migrants: A New Approach Toward Analysing the 19th- and 20th-Century Child Migration Schemes" takes up a question central to the Subaltern Studies and recent Global History and applies it to a group of historical actors so far largely overlooked in this context – children. The project addresses the question of marginalized actors’ voices using the example of the British child migration schemes to Australia and Canada. The ques-tion will be approached on two levels: (1) Children’s voices will be made audible while critical-ly reflecting on the practical and methodological limits of this endeavour. (2) The role of chil-dren’s voices in the history of the child migration schemes themselves will be analysed. The common epistemological interest lies in the role of children’s voices in the past, in coming to terms and in historically studying this past. The period studied spans from the child migration schemes of the late 19th century to their end in the 1960s. The project will also provide an outlook on the process of coming to terms with the past, both politically and scholarly, since the 1980s. The project will, for the first time, combine theories and methods from Subaltern Studies, recent Global History, and Childhood Studies in the historical analysis of the child migration schemes. Besides choosing a new approach towards sources from public and pri-vate archives in the UK, Australia, and Canada, the project will also broaden the range of sources scholars have used so far.The project’s aims are (1) to generate new insights into the child migration schemes by carving out children’s voices and acknowledging them in their own right, (2) to contribute to the Childhood Studies by enquiring about the role of children’s voices in (a) history of children and childhood, and (3) to make a contribution to the theoretical-methodical discussion about the representation and „speaking“ or „being heard“ of marginalized actors in history and his-toriography.The analysis of sources and scholarly literature conducted so far has led to early working hy-potheses, which are to be further analysed as the project continues. Based on these hypoth-eses, the historical development of the authority attributed to children to judge about and decide on their own situation has to be critically reconsidered. The image – widely shared among scholars – of a mostly linear evolution from emphasising children’s right to be protect-ed to emphasising their right to participate, has to be painted with more nuance.