ABSTRACT

In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught. (Baba Dioum, Senegalese environmentalist, 1968)

Th e impacts of global capitalism and neoliberal policies on domestic infrastructures have been extensively analyzed in terms of economic policies and practices in cross-national contexts (Bloch & Swadener, 2007; Kushnick & Jennings, 1999; Stiglitz, 2002; Wolfe & Vandell, 2002), but the existential impact on children and youth in terms of their daily lives has not been adequately articulated-or translated into policy and practice. As economic and political oppression threaten the development of children and their rights to a healthy childhood and access to education, the issue of children’s rights becomes fundamental for any transformative educational or social welfare discourse (e.g., Amnesty International, 1998; Polakow, 2000; Soto & Swadener, 2005).