London School of Economics and Political Science The Theory and Practice of Childhood: Interrogating Childhood as a Technology of Power Jacob Breslow A thesis submitted to the Gender Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. London, August 2016. 1 Declaration: I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 100,122 words. Statement of use of third party for editorial help: I can confirm that my thesis was copy edited for conventions of language, spelling and grammar by Louisa Acaiari, Ilana Eliot, Jacqui Gibbs, Billy Holzberg, Aura Lehtonen, and Emma Spruce. 2 Abstract: This thesis explores the social, political, and theoretical consequences that emerge when the contested category of “childhood” gets unequally applied to individuals and populations. The interdisciplinary theoretical project conceives of childhood as a technology of power that produces the contentious contours of various bodies and experiences, individuals and populations, and ways of life and forms of relation. It argues that childhood’s fantasmatic, figurative, and “real” subjects extend far beyond, and sometimes explicitly exclude, the early years of life. In conversation with childhood studies, feminist, trans, queer, critical-race, and psychoanalytic theory, this research is primarily concerned with the ways in which childhood is negotiated and re-imagined through discursive, institutional, and representational practices in the contemporary U.S. The analysis explores the psychic and political ambivalences of childhood, and attends to the investments in childhood’s uneven distribution. Asking specifically after the role of childhood in shaping and challenging the disposability of young black life, the queer life of children’s desires, and the steadfastness of the gender binary, this thesis outlines a theoretical framework of analysis that interdisciplinary scholars working in feminist, trans, queer, and anti-racist theory can use when addressing children and childhood, and it substantiates this framework through three case studies. 3 Acknowledgements: All writing is a collective process, and this thesis would not have been possible without the generous support, critique, and guidance of so many important people. I want to thank my two tremendous supervisors, Professor Clare Hemmings and Dr. Sadie Wearing, for their tireless and committed feedback throughout this entire process. Clare and Sadie encouraged me to undertake a PhD while I was working towards my MSc at the Gender Institute in 2010-2011, and they have been the most thought provoking and hard working readers of my work. I want to thank them as well for supporting me not just in the writing of this thesis, but also in my wider academic life. Untold thanks are due for the many letters of recommendation they have written, funding proposals they have signed, and opportunities they have opened up for me. I look forward to working with them both in the upcoming year at the Gender Institute as a LSE Teaching Fellow in Transnational Sexuality and Gender Studies, where I can only hope to provide their level of commitment, insight, and care. Many thanks are due as well to all the staff at the Gender Institute, and particularly to the unparalleled Hazel Johnstone, and Dr. Kate Steward, who have taken such great care of me and this institute. Throughout my time at the GI, Assistant Professor Ania Plomien and Assistant Professor Marsha Henry convened the PhD programme and have looked after GI 500, the PhD Workshop where I learned—from them and from my peers—what it means to give and receive constructive feedback. Thanks as well to Professor Mary Evans, who was a pleasure to teach with, albeit briefly, and who generously provided me housing when I was in need. I also want to thank Associate Professor Sumi Madhok and Associate Professor Leticia Sabsay for their guidance as we worked together teaching for the GI. To all the staff at the GI, this thesis is forever indebted to the conversations we’ve had together, and the dedicated work you have put in to make the GI the intellectual and critical space it is today. I feel very humbled and honored to be working with you all next year. In the fall of my final year of this PhD, I had the fantastic opportunity to embark on an Academic Partnership with Columbia University in New York. This opportunity would not have been possible if not for my supervisors and for the generous support of Professor Tina Campt at Columbia and Barnard. I want to thank Tina for sharing her time and her work-in-progress with me. While in New York I had the pleasure of 4 teaching an inspired undergraduate critical theory course with Assistant Professor Alex Pittman at Barnard. I want to thank Alex for welcoming me so openhandedly. I learned so much from our conversations about performance, student life, and pedagogy, and from our time teaching together. Additionally, while at Columbia I was able to take a course by Professor Saidiya Hartman and Professor Anne Cheng that consistently challenged me to think in new ways about racialization, archives, texts, and queerness. I specifically want to thank Saidiya for letting me sit in on this class and for sharing her unwavering brilliance. There are, of course, a number of people who have contributed not just to the intellectual reach of this thesis, but also to sustaining me personally over the last four or so years. Aura Lehtonen, whom I have had the immense pleasure to know since we embarked on our MSc together, has been absolutely integral to the life of this thesis. Her sharp critique and astute feedback has shaped my thinking in too many ways to count, and my friendship with her continues to nurture me. Likewise, Emma Spruce, while she was initially skeptical, eventually cast (most of) her doubts aside, and we have since become close friends, colleagues, and co-conspirators. I have had such a great time working with Emma and getting to know her better, and I look forward to the work we will continue to do together in the following years. Another person I have had the pleasure of getting to know through this process is the endearing Maria Alexopoulos. Maria’s research, and her writing, continues to inspire my own. I also must of course recognize Dr. Marina Franchi, who has been the most supportive, caring, and thoughtful colleague and wonderful friend. Thanks as well to Dr. Alessandro Castellini, for his advice and friendship, and Dr. Nicole Shephard for her solidarity and for always keeping me in check. Many thanks to my other friends and colleagues, past and present, with whom I have worked closely: Louisa Accari, Annette Behrens, Dr. Amanda Conroy, Ilana Eliot, Jacqui Gibbs, Dr. Harriet Gray, Billy Holzberg, Dr. Alex Hyde, Magdalena Mikulak, Kathryn Medien, Amanda Shaw, and Lindsay Simmons. Appreciation is also due to all the students who I’ve taught and learned from at the LSE and Barnard. Developing a collaborative feminist praxis through pedagogy is why I came into academia in the first place, and I want to thank you all for instructing me about how to be a better teacher. Finally, I want to thank those whose support and care cannot adequately be accounted for in these all too short acknowledgements. I have so much love for my 5 close friends Maria Alexopoulos, Milo Bettochi, Farah Kassam, Aura Lehtonen, Ariel Mellinger, Jessica Miller, Sean Michael Rau, and Emma Spruce for being there for me through think and thin. I also want to thank my parents, Jordan Breslow, Lorraine Gray, Gary Whitehead, and Lisa Whitehead for their love and support, and for their patience with me while I have been living far away from home for so many years. Love and appreciation also goes to all my brothers, and particularly Aaron Breslow for his continued encouragement and for always helping me become a better person. At its core, this is a thesis about how to sustain social justice projects and the subjects that ground them without casting aside all their complexities; it is a project about how desire, investment, and ambivalence must structure our commitments to making a better world. These are things I would not be able to adequately articulate without everything I have learned through sharing a life with Edie Duepner. Thank you, as always, for everything you teach me about love. 6 Table of Contents Abstract: ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements: ............................................................................................................... 4 Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 10 Childhood as a Technology of Power ................................................................................... 15 Framing, Scope,