ISSN 2601-8616 (print) ISSN 2601-8624 (online) European Journal of Education September-December 2018 Volume 1, Issue 3 68 Tracing the Global Child: Global Politics Shaping Local Childhoods Angela Bushati Freie Universität Berlin Abstract The concept of childhood, and particularly considering the social and cultural construction of childhood, has not received enough focus in the ongoing debates on globalization and its consequences. Yet, essential elements of globalization are omnipresent in the guise of new discourses around childhood, which have become particularly resonant transnationally. A lot of international treaties or conventions, such as the United Nations Children’s Rights Convention (1989) shape national and local realities of children worldwide based on global conceptualisations of childhood, which are based mainly on western ideals of what it means to be a child. Applying such global notions of childhood in different contexts around the world often does not consider local realities and cultural ideologies of childhood, and indirectly does more harm than good. Childhood constitutes an essential and very delicate nexus in the continuously changing realities. Since childhood occupies a symbolic space where the consequences of globalization can be reflected, it cannot be left unconsidered. Not only childhood comprehends the basis of cultural connection, but it is the main mechanism of social recreation. Building on postcolonial and critical whiteness studies, the paper tries to analyse a few aspects relating the westernization and construction of the global child ideal and presenting an overview of the impacts of children global policies towards shaping local childhoods. Keywords: Tracing the Global Child, Global Politics, Shaping Local Childhoods. Introduction The emerging ideas about children’s rights and recent theories regarding childhood continue to contour and frame our ideas about childhood and also the everyday reality of many children in different parts of the globe. Globalisation is changing the very notion of childhood and is introducing new constructions of childhood that dictate what childhood or a child should be like. The interplays between global vs. local dynamics nowadays affect the development and the everyday life of children in different parts of the globe. These dynamics often agitate existing practices, cultures, identities and socio-economic realities which translate in significant changes. With the emergence of global conventions and international treaties regarding children’s rights and protection such as The Child’s Rights Convention (1989) national and local realities of children worldwide are shaped regarding global conceptualisations of childhood, which are based mainly on western ideals and mostly Anglo-American social constructions of what it means to be a child. “The Convention on the Rights of the Child is premised upon the notion that concepts such as human rights or children’s rights are not negotiable at the local level and that differences between cultures and between individuals within cultures can be ignored” (Montgomery, 2001 :82). Besides focusing on the growing influence of globalism, on the other hand, there needs to be a better consideration of how such global changes impact different childhood local realities in different parts of the globe. The Global Child Construct Childhood in the 20 th century is seen as a separate category from adulthood, and being regarded as such, childhood is constructed based on the opposite characteristics of adulthood. A child is represented as not belonging to the adult world, and childhood is regarded as a ‘safe space’ which needs to be fostered and nurtured from adults. The notion of ‘childhood’ is both historically and culturally conditioned and “how the concept ion of childhood has changed historically and how conceptions differ across cultures is a matter of scholarly controversy and philosophical interest” (see Kennedy 2006, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Belonging to the category of “childhood” it of ten means being portrayed as innocent, vulnerable, and in need to be protected from adults. Nevertheless, this remains a westernized and