Three professors in the Social Work Department were given an opportunity to write a textbook on international child labor.
The textbook will be included in a series of books examining child labor issues from country to country, and will be used by high school students.
Elizabeth Traver, Michelle Vazquez Jacobus and Catherine Schmitz were approached by Greenwood Press because of their personal experiences with child welfare issues and children’s rights.
Traver worked with minority and immigrant communities in Denver, Colo., and in child welfare, trans-racial adoptions, and international adoptions.
Vazquez Jacobus is a lawyer who does social work, has traveled internationally and is fluent in Spanish. Schmitz has experience in international social work in Latin America.
The book will look at child labor historically and how it differs in 15 countries.
“The textbook will try to look at many different angles and put child labor in a light that doesn’t put an American cultural bias on it,” Vazquez Jacobus said.
The authors’ goal is to clarify acceptable child labor practices and bring attention to situations where children are exploited.
Writing the textbook brings a unique opportunity to the USM community as well the authors. The group is looking for anyone who “has a great knowledge of a particular culture that they would like to share,” Vazquez Jacobus said.
Professors or students who are willing to share their experiences can participate as co-authors or preliminary authors for specific chapters.
A preliminary list of the countries to be discussed in the book includes: United States, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Somalia, Brazil, Spain, Italy or Portugal, Thailand, Korea, China, India, the Philippines, South Africa, Pakistan and Russia.
Individual’s participation is a vital component to the project not only to enrich the book, but also because the authors will not receive funds until the project is completed, according to the authors. Thus, the authors are unable to travel to the countries they are researching.
The textbook will be complete by June of 2003. Most of the writing will happen during this summer, with revisions in the fall.
If anyone has an experience to share that occurred in any of the countries listed and would like to get involved in the project, contact Michelle Vazquez Jacobus at 780-4576 or at
[email protected], or contact Elizabeth Traver at 780-4197 or at [email protected].
Staff Writer Natalie Frye can be contacted at: [email protected]