For the past 20 years a range of scholars educators and cultural workers have examined dominant discourses of childhood using critical feminist and other postmodern perspectives. Located in a variety of disciplines these poststructural deconstructive and even postcolonial critiques have challenged everything from notions of the universal child to adultchild dualisms to deterministic developmental theory. The purpose of this volume is to acknowledge the profound contributions of that large body of literature while demonstrating the ways that critical analyses can be used to generate avenuesactions that increase possibilities for social justice for those who are younger while at the same time avoiding determinism.