1. Introduction: children and knowledge in India Zazie Bowen and Jessica Hinchy 2. Play on the mother-ground: children’s games in rural Odisha Zazie Bowen 3. Adivasi children and the making of indigeneity in Jharkhand Marine Carrin 4. Adivasi young people and the risk of education in rural Chhattisgarh Peggy Froerer 5. Enslaved childhoods in eighteenth-century Awadh Jessica Hinchy 6. Telling stories, washing hands: exploring the role of narrative in development programmes targeting children Annie McCarthy 7. Duties of a ‘good citizen’: colonial secondary school textbook policies in late nineteenth-century India Sudipa Topdar Epilogue Zazie Bowen