S/S/12. CAN IT BE SAID THAT CHILD SOLDIERS HAVE AGENCY?

This paper presents anthropological discussion of the involvement of children involved in conflict, focussing on when and where children acquire agency. Differences in understandings of personhood and child development and the impact of these differences is considered. Ethnography utilised in this discussion suggests that children's understanding of participation in conflict is based upon a previous sense of personal morality and on a collective narrative, which gives logic and reasonability to war time actions.