Mapping Non-religious Childhoods

Anna Harriet Block Strhan; Rachael Marie Shillitoe

Mapping Non-religious Childhoods

Anna Harriet Block Strhan, Rachael Marie Shillitoe

Department of Sociology

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper

Abstract

As numbers of those identifying as nonreligious continue to rise in Western Europe and North America, particularly among children and young people, this paper presents findings from a multi-sited ethnographic project exploring what it means to grow up as non-religious in Britain. This paper will profile the nonreligious children (ages 7-11 years) of our study and explore the different configurations of their (un)belief as well as the ways in which these beliefs are interrelated with particular worldviews and existential cultures. We identify the key beliefs and concerns non-religious children hold and examines and map nonreligion, secularity, spirituality and religion are constructed and negotiated across the spaces of both school and family life. Overall, this paper demonstrates the multiple, complex forms non-religion takes in childhood and the importance of attending to childhood in order to fully appreciate the nature and diversity of being non-religious.

Original language	English
Publication status	Unpublished - 2021
Event	Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference - Ottawa, Canada Duration: 16 Jun 2021 → 18 Jun 2021

Conference

Conference	Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Ottawa
Period	16/06/21 → 18/06/21

Nonreligious Childhood: Growing Up Unbelieving in Contemporary Britain
Strhan, A. H. B.
JOHN TEMPLETON FOUNDATION
1/04/18 → 1/09/19
Project: Research project (funded) › Research

Cite this

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title = "Mapping Non-religious Childhoods",

abstract = "As numbers of those identifying as nonreligious continue to rise in Western Europe and North America, particularly among children and young people, this paper presents findings from a multi-sited ethnographic project exploring what it means to grow up as non-religious in Britain. This paper will profile the nonreligious children (ages 7-11 years) of our study and explore the different configurations of their (un)belief as well as the ways in which these beliefs are interrelated with particular worldviews and existential cultures. We identify the key beliefs and concerns non-religious children hold and examines and map nonreligion, secularity, spirituality and religion are constructed and negotiated across the spaces of both school and family life. Overall, this paper demonstrates the multiple, complex forms non-religion takes in childhood and the importance of attending to childhood in order to fully appreciate the nature and diversity of being non-religious.",

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language = "English",

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AU - Strhan, Anna Harriet Block

AU - Shillitoe, Rachael Marie

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - As numbers of those identifying as nonreligious continue to rise in Western Europe and North America, particularly among children and young people, this paper presents findings from a multi-sited ethnographic project exploring what it means to grow up as non-religious in Britain. This paper will profile the nonreligious children (ages 7-11 years) of our study and explore the different configurations of their (un)belief as well as the ways in which these beliefs are interrelated with particular worldviews and existential cultures. We identify the key beliefs and concerns non-religious children hold and examines and map nonreligion, secularity, spirituality and religion are constructed and negotiated across the spaces of both school and family life. Overall, this paper demonstrates the multiple, complex forms non-religion takes in childhood and the importance of attending to childhood in order to fully appreciate the nature and diversity of being non-religious.

AB - As numbers of those identifying as nonreligious continue to rise in Western Europe and North America, particularly among children and young people, this paper presents findings from a multi-sited ethnographic project exploring what it means to grow up as non-religious in Britain. This paper will profile the nonreligious children (ages 7-11 years) of our study and explore the different configurations of their (un)belief as well as the ways in which these beliefs are interrelated with particular worldviews and existential cultures. We identify the key beliefs and concerns non-religious children hold and examines and map nonreligion, secularity, spirituality and religion are constructed and negotiated across the spaces of both school and family life. Overall, this paper demonstrates the multiple, complex forms non-religion takes in childhood and the importance of attending to childhood in order to fully appreciate the nature and diversity of being non-religious.

M3 - Paper

T2 - Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference

Y2 - 16 June 2021 through 18 June 2021

ER -

Mapping Non-religious Childhoods

Abstract

Conference

Projects

Nonreligious Childhood: Growing Up Unbelieving in Contemporary Britain

Cite this