Director 2022-23

Dr. Cheney convened the Children & Youth Studies program, which considers the role of children - both as objects and participants - in international development. She regularly taught Children and Youth in Development Context as well as research methodology. She also advised MA and PhD students.

The Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group of the American Anthropological Association was launched in 2007. The initiative to form an Interest Group and to secure official standing was undertaken by Kristen Cheney from the University of Dayton and Susan Shepler from American University. In the submission seeking Interest Group status these goals were put forth: The Anthropology of Children & Youth Interest Group will serve as a forum for interested scholars to meet, network, collaborate, and communicate about their work. Its goals are 1. To promote and facilitate the development of anthropological scholarship pertaining specifically to children and childhood, broadly defined, and to emphasize its relationship to the development of inclusive, comparative theoretical models, as well as fieldwork methodology, for the discipline of anthropology; To encourage research with child-focused perspectives which emphasize the centrality of children in cultural production, not only as objects ofsocialization but as social agents in their own right; To engage researchers in discussion of ethical considerations particular to working with children; To contribute anthropological knowledge to theinterdisciplinary efforts to address the contemporary problems facing children and to establish links with other professional associations concerned with the study of children and childhood for professional collaboration in teaching, research, and scholarship; To promote the professional interests of members and help produce thenext generation of anthropologists whose work will influence policy in both governmental and nongovernmental agencies concerned with children’s issues.

Served as a secondary school English teacher on Likoma Island (Likoma SS) and in Blantyre (Kaphuka SS).