L’insostenibile spinta utopica dei bambini. Oltre il binomio utopia-infanzia

An indissoluble bond holds utopia and childhood together, not only because children are often at the centre of utopian narratives and imaginaries in which they embody salvific roles of corrupt societies – or, specularly in dystopias, that of perturbers of peaceful orders – but because they both evoke promises of radiant futures. Childhood is the symbolic place, the container of our hopes and desires for the future as a society, and utopi a is simultaneously the 'place that is not there' and the 'good place' in which we socially project our aspirations for social change in an ameliorative sense. If this consolidated binomial appears self-evident and thus assumes the force of a "dominant discursive regime", it is true that by examining the production of the adult-centred discourse, and putting the children of the present and everyday life back at the centre of reflection, its explanatory tightness and projective force can become object of scrutiny and rethinking. By analysing the social construction of childhood and the role of children as social actors, this essay proposes a parallelism between utopia and childhood and between everyday utopias and children, showing the links that bind them, but also the repercussions of this link both in children's lives and in the prefigurations of ideal societies to imagine and to actualize

Safety and efficacy of direct-acting antivirals in transfusion-dependent thalassemic patients with chronic hepatitis C

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality among thalassemic patients. New treatments based on direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are highly effective and well-tolerated by patients; nonetheless, they have not been studied in thalassemic populations. In this study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of these treatments in a cohort of Sardinian thalassemic patients with chronic HCV infection. Methods: We consecutively recruited thalassemic patients with HCV infection, who were eligible for DAA therapy at 3 liver units. Different drug combinations, depending on HCV genotype and hepatic disease severity, were used according to the current guidelines. Sustained virological response was assessed at 12 weeks posttreatment. Data regarding the side effects and transfusion requirements were also collected. Results: We recruited 49 patients, including 29 males (59.2%), with the mean age of 43 years (genotype 1, 55.1%). Twenty-one (42.9%) patients had a history of interferon-based treatment. Cirrhosis was detected in 28 (57.1%) patients; only 1 patient had ascites and hypoalbuminemia (Child-Pugh B7). On the other hand, 35 (71.4%) patients received a sofosbuvir-based regimen. Ribavirin treatment was reported in 26 (53.1%) cases. All the patients were followed-up for at least 12 weeks after therapy, and sustained virological response was observed in 98% of the patients. No treatment discontinuation was required due to adverse events. The most common side effects included fatigue (24.5%), headache (10.2%), and anaemia (77%), requiring further blood transfusion in patients receiving ribavirin. Conclusions: This prospective study showed that DAAs are safe and effective agents in thalassemic patients with advanced liver fibrosis, regardless of previous antiviral treatment responses

Giochi di bambini. Riproduzione interpretativa e culture dei pari

Il capitolo mostra le forme con cui, nei giochi dei bambini all'interno degli spazi per l\u2019infanzia, le tensioni,i conflitti e le alleanze si combinano in un ambito nel quale l\u2019intervento degli insegnanti corre il pericolo di distruggere mondi e modi di costruire le culture dei bambini, quelle che essi costruiscono attraverso le loro interazioni tra pari

L’infanzia in gioco. Una lettura sociologica della moda bambino

Currently, the public and scientific discourse on childrenswear focuses on its potentially harmful aspects, the production of stereotypical models and the risks that these models may have on the behaviours of children; however, further research is required regarding the representations of childhood and the sources of inspiration of fashion designers, on the one hand, and the meanings attributed to clothing and fashion by children and their parents, on the other. This contribution is based on narrative interviews with a vast range of professionals working in the fashion system for children (fashion designers, stylists, photographers, brands, bloggers, journalists, fashion directors, child models and their parents etc.) and on preliminary fieldwork observations of international childrenswear exhibitions in Florence, The study aims to analyse the social construction of childhood in the fashion system for children. In particular, the essay reveals the heuristic specificity of the children’s clothing industry for the historical relevance of the sector in the construction of contemporary understanding of childhood. It highlights its links with the world of play and fantasy and also shows the perspective of adults involved, that of children and their capacity to interpret the "adult" world, to relate to it and sometimes to re-design it. Therefore the children's clothing industry appears to be an experimental field in which to analyse the cultural changes of childhood and adulthood.Attualmente nel discorso pubblico e scientifico sulla moda bambino vengono sottolineati gli aspetti  potenzialmente lesivi, la produzione di modelli stereotipati e i rischi che tali modelli possono avere sui comportamenti dei più piccoli; tuttavia, ancora inesplorati sono le rappresentazioni sull’infanzia e le fonti di ispirazione dei designer della moda, da un lato, e i significati attribuiti ai capi d’abbigliamento e alla moda dai bambini e dai loro genitori, dall’altro. Basato sui risultati preliminari di una ricerca sociologica svolta con interviste narrative ai differenti attori che con vari ruoli vi lavorano (stilisti, stylist, fotografi, aziende, blogger, giornalisti, registi, bambini modello e i loro genitori ecc.) e attraverso osservazioni etnografiche al salone internazionale dell’abbigliamento per bambini a Firenze, l’articolo analizza la costruzione sociale dell'infanzia nel sistema moda bambino.In particolare, il saggio rivela la specificità euristica della moda infanzia per la storica rilevanza del settore nella definizione di immaginari dell’infanzia, ne evidenzia i legami con il mondo del gioco e della fantasia per poi presentare la prospettiva degli adulti coinvolti, quella dei bambini e le loro capacità di interpretare il mondo “degli adulti”, di relazionarsi con esso e, talvolta, di risignificarlo. L'industria dell'abbigliamento per bambini risulta quindi un campo sperimentale in cui analizzare i mutamenti culturali dell’infanzia e della stessa età adulta

Simply child’s play? Reconfiguring child-adult relations in a leisure place for children

This article describes an ethnographic study exploring children’s everyday life in a leisure place for children led by a small group of play-assistants. In particular it focuses on child-adult relations within this place and aims to discover, through the observation of play activities, the grounds of this relation. Findings suggest that the relation between adults and children is always performed within an educational framework, where the adult knows better than the child what is best for him/her. Based on the main assumptions of the sociology of childhood and of the cultural studies pertaining to this field, the proposal aims to interpret child-adult relations as an intercultural relation rather than an educative one.