Imagining the Child’s Mind

International conference. 

In the period following the Second World War, several (international) initiatives brought the issue of children's mental health to the forefront. The political will to address this area – undoubtedly shaped by an awareness of the war’s impact on new generations – was accompanied, affirmed, and in some respects even anticipated by developments in various academic and scientific fields that took on the task of understanding, guiding, and treating the “child’s mind.” Notably, the “psy” disciplines, pedagogy, criminology, social work, sociology, and anthropology entered into a shared and evolving dialogue on this subject. Child psychiatry established itself as a distinct medical discipline. Psychological perspectives contributed to a shift in the paradigm of childhood and suffering, partially supplanting earlier frameworks focused on morality and education.

The following decades witnessed an explosion of research into childhood mental disorders, their diagnosis, and classification – developments that certainly did not take place in a political, social, or cultural vacuum. Since both the concept of mental health and that of childhood – individually and in their interrelation – are historically, culturally, and socially constructed, the definitions and strategies used to address issues in relation to children’s mental health have differed across contexts and over time.

The symposium aims to deepen our understanding of these distinctions through insights from researchers in the fields of history and related disciplines, with particular attention to the dynamics of change after 1945. 

The international conference will be held within the project Retrochild: Children, trauma and political violence in Italo-Slovene Borderland (1945-1960), financed by European Commission (MSCA project).

Programme

Download abstracts and author information.

Day 1: 29 January

09:00–09:15 Welcome speeches / Introduction
9:30–10:30 Children between environment, heredity and politics, I:
  • Filippo Masina: Relief, Care, Re-education. Childhood and the Containment of “Deviance” in Postwar Italy, 1945–1968
  • Matteo Perisinotto: Public Opinion and Juvenile Delinquency in Trieste During the Two Post-War Transition (1915–1918 and 1945–1949)
10:30–11:00 Coffee break
11:00–12:00
Children between environment, heredity and politics, II
  • Anna Toropova: Children’s Trauma in Late Stalinist Psychiatry and Culture
  • Anne Oommen-Halbach: Child Aggression Research in the Shadow of War
12:00-13:00
Lunch
13:00–14:30
Child guidance and the “maladjusted child”
  • Veena Roshan Jose: Art and Play as Windows to Trauma: Visual Narratives in Post-War Child Guidance Clinics
  • Krittapak Ngamvaseenont: The Making of the ‘Modern Child’: From the Child of the Future in the Second World War to the Nervous Child in Cold War Thailand
  • Shilpi Rajpal: Making Good: Childhood, Maladjustment and Mental Hygiene in India
14:30–15:00
Coffee break
15:00–16:30
Institutional care and abuses
  • Jelena Seferović: Youth with Mental Challenges in Croatia at the Crossroads of Support and Punishment in 19th–20th Century
  • Heiner Fangerau: “Improving the Pedagogical Scope?” The Medical Abuse of Children in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War
  • Laura Schettini: Between Abandonment, Business, and Criticism: Institutions for “Subnormal” Children in 1960s and 1970s Italy

Day 2: 30 January

09:00–10:30
Institutions, reforms and activism
  • Marina Dal Cin: Child Mental Health and the Making of Care in a Border City: Evelina Ravis and the Medical-Pedagogical Institute of Trieste (1928–1954)
  • Jesper Vaczy Kragh: Deprivation and Reform: Child Psychiatry and Institutional Care in Post-War Denmark
  • Niamh Cullen: The 1968 moment and the Liberation of Children among Anti-Authoritarian and Feminist Activists in Italy
10:30–11:00
Coffee break
11:00–12:30
Research and the future citizen
  • Kristen Loutenstock: Metaphors of Productivity: Diagnosing Autism and the Creation of the Child-Product
  • Boontariga Puangkham: The Making of the Cold War Child Psyche. A Transcultural Perspective on Child Psy-Sciences in Thailand, 1950s–1970s
  • Michael Pettit: Head Start or False Start? Great Society Social Programs and the Development of the Competent Child
12:30–13:30
Lunch break
13:30–15:00
War narratives through children’s eyes
  • Shivender Rahul: The Witnessing Child: Memory, Trauma, and the Politics of Post-War Mental Health, 1945–1970
  • Marilia Fotopoulou: “I Would Never Capture Migrants”: Rethinking Children’s Resilience through the Collections and Practices of the War Childhood Museum in Sarajevo
  • Anna Di Giusto: When Institutions Fail: A Teacher’s Response to Unaccompanied Ukrainian Minors in Italy (2022–2024)
15:00–15:30
Final discussion

 

We especially welcome contributions that transcend Westerncentric frameworks and engage with diverse disciplinary approaches. We invite papers that explore how definitions of and responses to children’s mental health were shaped by the legal and institutional frameworks of individual states and international organizations, and how these definitions were subject to more or less explicit forms of political (mis)use. To what extent did the Second World War—and other major political transformations—constitute a turning point in shaping policies and practices related to children’s mental health across different contexts? How far were these measures and approaches determined by state authorities, and to what degree were they also influenced/shaped by various actors within the system—medical professionals, parents, and even children themselves? We also encourage reflections on the ways in which scientific paradigms reflected, reproduced, or transcended ideological divisions between the Socialist and Capitalist states.

We also welcome papers addressing, but not limited to, the following topics:

  • “abandoned children”/orphaned children/illegitimate children/street children & mental health in
    history
  • juvenile delinquents/“maladjusted children” & mental health in history
  • refugee children & mental health
  • migrant children & mental health
  • war & political violence, children & mental health
  • school & mental health
  • parenting & mental health
  • art/literature, children & mental health
  • international organisations & children's mental health in history
  • absence and presence of children in psychiatric discourse
  • absence and presence of children in psychiatric institutions

Submission guidelines

  • Title & Abstracts: Submit a title and an abstract (max 300–500 words) detailing your proposed paper, including the research question, methodology, and anticipated findings.
  • CV & Contact: Include a short CV (max 150 words) and your contact email.
  • Deadline: 30 November 2025
  • Language: Submissions are welcome in English. The conference proceedings, including paper presentations and discussions, will be conducted in English.
  • Format: Papers will be presented in 20-minute sessions, followed by discussions. Panel proposals (three related papers) are also welcome.

Publication opportunity

Selected papers will be considered for inclusion in an edited volume or special journal issue dedicated to the conference themes.

Key dates

  • Abstract submission deadline: 30 November 2025
  • Notification of acceptance: 5 December 2025
  • Conference dates: 29–30 January 2026

For submissions and inquiries, please contact: Ana.Cergol@ff.uni-lj.si