Translating childhoods

A study of immigrant youth that brings children to the forefront by exploring the “work” they perform as language and culture brokers, and the impact of this largely unseen contribution. Skilled in two vernaculars, children shoulder basic and more complicated verbal exchanges for non-English speaking adults. Readers hear, through children’s own words, what it means be “in the middle” or the “keys to communication” that adults otherwise would lack. Drawing from ethnographic data and research in three immigrant communities, Orellana’s study expands the definition of child labor by assessing children’s roles as translators as part of a cost equation in an era of global restructuring and considers how sociocultural learning and development is shaped as a result of children’s contributions as translators. From publisher description.

Year

2009

Language

English

Series

The Rutgers series in childhood studies

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Editions

4

Pages

183

ISBN

9780813545226

Data source: Wikidata