Description
From 1950, the Delhi-based satirical magazine Shankar’s Weekly, often glossed as “India’s Punch,” began sponsoring an international competition for children up to the age of 16. The competition quickly grew from 6,000 entries from 17 countries in its first year to 150,000 entries from 100 countries by 1972. The over 300 prize winners of each competition of children’s writing and artwork, referred to as “little envoys,” each year had their work published in a special ‘Children’s Art Number.’ These winning entrants had, as the foreword to the 1956 volume noted: “made common cause in the exhilarating adventure to meet and mingle with one another through their work with the brush and pen.” Analysing winning written entries to this competition from 1955-1975, this paper explores both the pessimism and playfulness of children’s insights into the practice of global cooperation, the nature of humanity, and its possible futures. Yet, with many of these ‘futures’ now in our past, this paper also addresses a series of methodological questions about competitions as archives, and the project of turning to historical children’s writing in search of new visions of global unity.| Period | 29 Jun 2022 |
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| Event title | Australian Historical Association Conference : Urgent Histories |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Geelong, AustraliaShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |