Peer-reviewed article
How modernity’s futurism puts children in the front line
Sharon Jessop ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a theoretical and philosophical paper examining how conceptualisations of childhood in modern thought might explain why children are targeted in acts of terrorism. It argues that modernity's focus on the future and progress positions children symbolically on the 'front line'. The paper proposes Surrealism as an alternative philosophical framework for understanding childhood.
Key points
- Children's symbolic role as embodiments of modernity's promises of future progress may explain their selection as targets in terror
- The paper contrasts modernity's instrumental view of children with Surrealist conceptualisations
- Recognition of children's 'transgressive attitude' to modernity's credo is proposed as resistance to instrumentalised thinking about children
Limitations
This is a theoretical and philosophical analysis rather than empirical research on child well-being outcomes. It does not evaluate interventions or provide evidence on what improves children's actual welfare, health, education, or protection.
Abstract
What conceptualisations of the child might explain the communicative and rhetorical significance of their selection as targets in acts of terror? It is argued that the child as an embodiment of modernity’s enthralment to the future’s promises of progress or redemption puts them on this front line. As an alternative to modernity’s futurism, Surrealism presents us with a conceptualisation of the child that anticipates contemporary ideas of ‘queerness’. The recognition of the child’s transgressive attitude to the credo of modernity can be a way of resisting increasingly instrumentalised ways of thinking about children.