Abstract

This work seeks to introduce and examine different historically relevant theories and propose certain frameworks that allow for the development of a Latin American theoretical approach based in a new discourse regarding childhood and adolescence. In order to undertake the creation of this Latin American approach, understanding the category of childhood as a social and historical construction, the work draws upon the contributions of structuralism (in particular, childhood as a permanent category, its relational dimension with regards to adulthood and its historical and intercultural dimension) and Foucault and Deleuze's concept of the society of control associated with the category of domination, an essential aspect of Latin American thought. The text was presented as a speech in the V World Congress for the Rights of Children and Adolescents held in San Juan, Argentina, from October 15-19, 2012.