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Abstract

This article presents the data of an ethnographic case study of a non-governmental organisation’s development project in northern India, the creation of Children’s Committees for Village Development (CCVDs). Through this case study, we can examine how children are crafted into a child public that is constituted by global development ideologies and moulded by local social structures. CCVD tasks can be recognised as a form of ‘work’, with specific activities related to citizenship practices. A focus on the tasks in which the children are engaged illustrates the specific practices through which transnational development organisations contribute to expectations about national citizenship in India. While these practices are informed by transnational ideologies, local social relations shape the children’s implementation and adult reception of these ideologies. Understanding citizenship activities as work practices, highlights the role that the ascription of value to children’s work plays in this development process.

Keywords

Children children’s rights citizenship India labour

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Planning to Play Cricket

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