Lauren Silver

Lauren Silver studies “abolitionist childhood,” working at the intersections of anthropology, childhood studies, and “theory in action.” She received her Ph.D. in education, culture, and society at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

Publications:

• Silver, L.J. (2020). “Queering Reproductive Justice: Memories, Mistakes, and Motivations to Transform Kinship.” Feminist Anthropology, 1: 217-230.

• Silver, L.J. (2019). “Transformative Childhood Studies: A Remix in Inquiry, Justice, and Love.” Children’s Geographies, 18 (2): 176-190.

• Silver, L.J. (October 30, 2020). “Abolitionist Childhood Now.” Youth Circulations Blog. Retrieved from http://www.youthcirculations.com/blog/2020/10/30/abolitionist-childhood-now

Media Appearances/Speaking Engagements:

• Transformative Childhood Studies: Using Civic Engagement to Bridge Education, Research, and Justice. Invited Keynote Speaker, University of Lethbridge, Institute for Child and Youth Studies, April 18, 2018, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

• Playing with Childhood in the Twenty-First Century, Invited Keynote Speaker, University of Pittsburgh, Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program, April 6-7, 2018, Pittsburgh PA

Accomplishments:

• Presidential Fellowship for Teaching Excellence

• Faculty Fellowship at Institute for Research on Women

• Chancellor's Award for Academic Civic Engagement

Upcoming Projects:

• November presentation at the Australian Anthropological Society's Conference on "Vulnerabilities": "Radical Kinship--Toward Dignifying Child and Child-like Vulnerabilities"

• Forthcoming book manuscript: "Children's Radical Kincrafting: Riverways through Care, Healing, and Transformation"

My book is informed and I speak, write, make art, and act, as part of a community of feminist abolitionists who actively work to end violence and sexual harm against children while imagining new modes of radical care and loving kinship.