Global conflict and post-conflict childhood as a unit of analysis for Asian comparative education

The field of education is vast and diverse with rare consensus and law-like research findings. An exception is an agreement over the fact that childhood should be protected and their education, fostered. Intriguingly, the concept of childhood did not exist in the West until well into the 17th century, and it owes its emergence not to ‘grand’ advances in science but to social instability and degradation brought about by pre- and post-Westphalian inter-national conflicts. It is out of sense of pity for lost childhood that gave birth to its very concept. Honoring the theme of the 2016 Conference of the Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong, ‘Education for Peace’, I examine conflict and post-conflict childhood as a unit of analysis in international and comparative education field. It is argued that comparative studies on conflict and post-conflict childhood tend to focus on the immediacies (in time and place) of ‘still-hot conflicts’ but little attention is paid to mid-and long-term alleviation and preventive education.