Theory of Normativity in Global Society I

Course block 1: Theoretical perspectives on children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing Week 1, 5/10: Introduction: Children’s and young people’s right to health Week 2, 12/10: Central concepts and definitions of mental health Week 3, 19/10: Sociology of health, and children and young people as health actors Course block 2: Critical discussions of concepts like normality and deviancy, medicine and healing Week 4, 26/10: Mental health in a global perspective: The example of Sri Lanka Week 5, 2/11: Children and young people positioned as at risk Week 6, 9/11: Health rights and health responsibilities Week 7, 16/11 Can we measure young people’s mental health? Course block 3: Young people’s experiences Week 8, 30/11 Socially withdrawn youths: The example of Japan and Sweden Week 9, 7/12 Teenagers’ in special schools and experiences of being diagnosed with autism in Australia Week 10, 14/12 Cognitive behavioral therapy for Swedish teenage girls and Estonians youths’ experiences of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions Course block 4: Social media influencers on mental health issues Week 11, 21/12 Displaying mental health problems Week 12, 4/1 Health pedagogy on the internet – how influencers cultivate authenticity and create pedagogical potential Week 13, 11/1 Wrapping up and evaluating the course

Each class will consist of a lecture and a classroom, group, or pair discussion. Students are expected to prepare the classes by reading the aforementioned literature and come up with discussion questions. Course assignments consist of an essay relating to the course topics. Students will also, in pairs, prepare and show a short (5 min.) power point presentation about social media health pedagogy, in class, and view and listen to their fellow students’ presentations and contribute to the discussions.

The grade will be based on students’ attendance, preparation for and contributions to class discussion, submission of an essay and presentation of a power point.

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Ben-Arieh, Asher et al. (2014) Multifaceted concept of child well-being. In Ben-Arieh et al. (eds.) Handbook of Child Well-Being: theories, methods and policies in global perspective. Dordrecht: Springer Berryman, Rachel & Kavka, Misha (2017) Crying on YouTube: Vlogs, self-exposure and the productivity of negative effect. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies24(1) 85–98. Brady et al. (2015) Connecting a sociology of childhood perspective with the study of child health, illness and wellbeing: introduction. Sociology of Health & Illness 37(2): 173–183. Ekstrand, Britten (2015) What it takes to keep children in school: a research review, Educational Review 67(4):459-482. Fernando, Gaithri A. (2008) Assessing Mental Health and Psychosocial Status in Communities Exposed to Traumatic Events: Sri Lanka as an Example. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 78(2): 229–239. Graham (2015) To be well is to be not unwell: The new battleground inside our children’s heads. In Rethinking youth wellbeing. Critical perspectives (eds. Wright, Katie & McLeod, Julie). Singapore: Springer. Pp. 11-33. Hendry, Natalie Ann, Hartung, Catherine & Welch, Rosie (2021) Health education, social media, and tensions of authenticity in the ‘influencer pedagogy’ of health influencer Ashy Bines. Learning, Media and Technology. Horiguchi, Sachiko (2017) “Unhappy” and isolated youth in the midst of social change. Representations and subjective experiences of hikikomori in contemporary Japan. In Holthaus, Barbara & Manzenreiter, Wolfram (eds.) Life course, happiness and well-being in Japan. Chapter 3, pp. 57-71. Abingdon: Routledge. Kilkelly, Ursula (2015) Health and children’s rights. In Ben-Arieh et al. (eds.) Handbook of Child Well-Being: theories, methods and policies in global perspective. Chapter 13, pp. 216-233. Dordrecht: Springer. Kutsar & Kurvet-Käosaar (2021) The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Families: Young People’sExperiences in Estonia. Frontiers in Sociology 6. Liebenberg, Linda, Ungar, Michael & Ikeda, Janice (2015) Neo-liberalism and responsibilisation in the discourse of social service workers. The British Journal of Social Work 45(3): 1006-1021. Mogensen, Lisa & Mason, Jan (2015) The meaning of a label for teenagers negotiating identity: experiences with autism spectrum disorder. Sociology of Health & Illness 37(2): 255–269. Morrow & Mayall (2009) What is wrong with children’s well-being in the UK? Questions of meaning and measurement. Journal of Social Welfare & Family Law, 31(3): 217-229. Singh, Ilina & Rose, Nicholas (2009) Biomarkers in psychiatry. Nature 460: 202-207. Wickström & Kvist Lindholm (2020) Young people’s perspectives on the symptoms asked for in the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) Survey. Childhood 27(4):450-467. Wickström (2013) From individual to relational strategies: Transforming a manual-based psycho-educational course at school. Childhood 20(2):215-228.

The course will be taught entirely in English. There will be a guidance to the course on the first day of the class and the literature will be distributed on-line. If the teacher finds it necessary to make changes to the course, an announcement will be given in advance.