Suchergebnisse

AbstractResearch on twins has tended to focus around the question of heredity/environment. As part of this, attention has been paid to how twins' family environments impact upon them. By examining twinship as a social identity, this article considers the social experience of twinship as it is framed by parent–child relations and also actively shaped by twins themselves. Sameness constitutes one central defining component of 'twin' identity within Western societies. In preparing their twins' bodies for public presentation, parents play a key role in communicating twin identity on their children's behalf. However, children also construct and convey their own identities through presenting their bodies in certain ways. Drawing on findings from a small-scale qualitative study of twinship, this article examines how twin identity is created, modified and reproduced by parents and child twins. It highlights the active role that twins take in constructing their own identities and in shaping the 'twin situation'.

AbstractWe asked 92 children in North West England, aged 2–17, if they were children and what it meant to be a child. Our findings show that not all children think they are a 'child'. Although different age groups defined 'childness' in different ways, children reproduced normative Western discourses of childhood, including ideas which subordinate them. The children in our study seemed unable to articulate their capabilities and contributions. We argue that children and adults need to co‐produce positive definitions of childness to facilitate adult acceptance of children's participation in society and continue the struggle against adultism.