SHCY Newsletter #6 (Summer 2005)

And, Even More on the Conference Circuit

Shurlee Swain, a Reader in History at Australian Catholic University and a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of History at the University of Melbourne, offers her comments on two summer conferences.. Her recent book, Confronting Cruelty (Melbourne University Press 2002) is a history of child protection in Australia.

Thirteenth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women
Sin Fronteras: Women's Histories, Global Conversations

The interlinking of women's and children's histories was apparent amongst the 217 panels presented at the Thirteenth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women held ad Scripps College, Claremont, California, 2-5 June 2005. A major clustering was evident around pregnancy, birth, infancy and motherhood with panels on 'Mother, Fetus and Nation', 'New Directions in the History of Childbirth, Midwifery and Obstetrics', 'Infanticide in the 19^th and Early 20^th Centuries', 'Historical Perspectives on Breastfeeding', 'New Perspectives on Child Abuse', 'Blood suckers, Baby Snatchers and Capitalists for Christ', 'Babies Cross Borders', 'Rethinking Mothers and Daughters in Southern Africa' and 'War-brides, Prostitutes and Children'. A second clustering focused on girlhood and adolescence with panels entitled 'Girlhood and Global Conversations', 'Girls in Motion' and 'Jewish Girls on the Threshold of Modernity'. At such a large conference a delegate has to be selective but from the panels I attended two papers stand out both for their content and their theoretical sophistication: Karen Dubinsky's analysis of adoption, race and nation in the Americas and Rebecca Wanzo's ' "I Do Not Know This Little Girl": The Legal and Social History of Child Protection and Memorial Laws from Mary Ellen McCormack to Sherrice Iverson'.

Addendum by Beth Hillman: At a round table on "War Brides, Prostitutes, and Children: Sex in the Two World Wars," Jennifer M. Morris of Miami University presented a paper titled "From Degenerates to the Innocent: UNICEF's Anti-Syphilis Campaign for Children and their Mothers in Europe, 1946-1953." Her work is drawn from a dissertation on the origins of UNICEF. This paper focused on how the founder of UNICEF, Dr. Ludwik Rajchman, organized a public health campaign against syphilis in post-World War II Europe.

CISH 20^th International Congress of Historical Sciences, held at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 3-9 July 2005

By Shurlee Swain

There was no space in the major thematic panels at this large international conference for the history of children and youth, but it was at the centre of one specialized panel and a round table. The special panel entitled 'Informal relations in Early Modern and Modern Society: Kinship, Patronage, Friendship, Social Networks' included a paper by Professor Patricia Crawford from the University of Western Australia identifying the origins of Australia's indigenous child removal practices in policies developed as part of the English Poor Law of 1601. At the round table 'Children and War' speakers from Canada, New Zealand, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium and the United States contrasted the romantic notions of childhood implicit in such publications as Ellen Key's The Century of the Child with the historically unprecedented levels of violence inflicted on children during the conflicts of the twentieth century. Running concurrently with the main conference were meetings of a range of affiliated associations and international commissions, including the Australian Historical Association, the International Commission for Historical Demography, the International Federation for Research of the History of Women, the International Standing Conference for the History of Education and the International Commission for Comparative Ecclesiastical History all of which included some papers touching on the history of childhood. Most compelling for me was Professor Katharine Massam's paper on the role of memory in the process of reconciliation amongst Aboriginal women placed as children in the Catholic Mission at New Norcia, Western Australia, focusing on the organization and subsequent memorialisation of a reunion which brought the Spanish sisters who had been their careers back to Australia.

The 26th Annual Nineteenth Century Studies Association Conference
Infantuation: Childhood, Youth, and Nineteenth-Century Culture

Each year, the NCSA hosts a scholarly conference that highlights a specific area of interdisciplinary study. While last year's conference focused on travel, cultural imperialism, and competition through such events as the World's Fair, this year's conference centered on ideas of childhood and youth in nineteenth century culture. I attended this meeting in March of 2005, and had the opportunity to hear a wide variety of papers that not only addressed how childhood and youth developed and changed throughout this period, but also how nineteenth century society and culture influenced, interpreted, or invented infants, children, adolescents, and youth.

The meeting, held at the Partridge Inn in Augusta, Georgia's historic district, brought academics from a wide range of disciplines and historical fields. According to the CFP, conference organizers were interested in proposals that addressed children at play, growing pains, race and ethnicity, masculinity and femininity expectations, "babification," censorship, nature and animals, aesthetics, art and architecture, public health and the changing place of medicine, middle- and upper-class childhoods, working class children and the impact of industrialization, crime, consumerism and eternal youth, and childhood as an emerging discipline. While these themes were well represented at the conference, other papers brought in new lenses with which to examine childhood and youth: specifically ideas of slavery and emancipation, imperialism and colonialism, as well as ideas of mothering and family. Furthermore, these papers were not limited to nineteenth century America. While I presented on children in post-emancipation Jamaica, other presenters focused on Romania, France, England, Canada, Africa, and Germany. So, the NCSA's conference was a success, and the planning committee got a well-rounded forum that featured papers on art, music, literature, history, sociology, medicine, and anthropology, all centering on the theme of childhood and youth in nineteenth century culture.

Interspersed between the papers were several activities open to the conference participants, though not always focused specifically on childhood and youth. While conference participants could attend a concert on the USC Aiken campus hosted by David Kushner of the University of Florida, entitled "Music for Children through the Lenses of Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Bloch," others were invited to take a walking tour of historic Aiken, South Carolina. These events were about a two hours' drive from the conference, and attendees were invited to take a shuttle two and from the Partridge Inn and USC Aiken's campus. On Friday, the NCSA held its Plenary and business meetings were held, followed by Claudia Nelson's Keynote Address on "The Child-Woman in Victorian Literature." Afterwards, conference participants took a walking tour of historic Augusta, and attended a reception at the Morris Museum of Art.

For more information on the Conference program, please visit http://www.msu.edu/~floyd/ncsa/2005_program.htm

IRSCL Conference

The Biennial International Research Society for Children's Literature is one of the major international conferences on children's literature. Each year it is themed, and this year's theme was EXPECTATIONS AND EXPERIENCES: CHILDREN, CHILDHOOD AND CHILDREN'S LITERATURE. Within this broad theme, there were four strands: Childhood and families, Childhood and morality: message and medium, Childhood on display, and Childhood and theory -- something for everyone interested in childhood and children's literature.

Convening for the first time in Ireland, it brought together children's literature scholars from around the world. There were delegates from more than thirty countries. All papers are delivered in English. The delegates were, for the most part, housed within the 'hallowed walls' of Trinity College, the home of the Book of Kells. This large, walled college, right in the heart of Dublin, is the alma mater of many prominent literary figures such as Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Beckett. Trinity was certainly a fitting setting for a literature conference!

There were around 200 papers in parallel sessions over the four days and the choice between them was often difficult to make. One of the things which makes these conferences so worthwhile, is the opportunity to hear about the literatures and cultures of colleagues from many parts of the world. As well as learning so much from the papers, it is marvellous to be able to develop collegial relationships across the world. And how wonderful email is in being able to follow these up.

Each day began with a plenary session. These were wonderfully varied but all fascinating and stimulating. Declan Kiberd, Head of the Department of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College, Dublin began the first day with his assessment of the literature for and about children in Ireland; Michael Rosen, well-known poet, critic and broadcaster gave a highly-personal view of the world of poetry for children and changes in education since the 1970s; Anne Higonnet, in her illustrated address, Childhood Innocence, Then and Now, expanded on her book on the same subject and on the final day, Paul Muldoon, formerly Professor Poetry at Oxford, gave a 'poet's-eye' view with close readings of some of his poetry for children.

In addition to the papers, delegates were offered a wonderful range of entertainment with receptions at the Mansion House, home of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and at the National Library of Ireland. There were literary walks around Dublin -- interspersed with performances of extracts from Beckett's plays, a 'Hooley' night of traditional Irish music and dancing at Jameson's Distillery and the conference finished with a wonderful Gala Dinner in the grand Dining Hall of Trinity College. And there was always the possibility of viewing the Book of Kells and the wonderful Long Room above it, at a time when one did not have to stand in a very long queue. That was quite a privilege and one of which many us took advantage.

At the Gala Dinner, Roni Natov was presented with the IRSCL Award for Outstanding Research for her book The Poetics of Childhood and Jean Perrot, Director of the Charles Perrault International Research Institute was awarded the IRSCL Fellowship.

The next IRCL conference will be held in Kyoto, Japan in 2007.

Other Recent Conferences of Interest to SHCY Members:

From 12 to 14 August 2005 the Nordic Women's and Gender History Conference met in Turku, Finland. The conference included a session on the topic of Gender and the History of Childhood. For more details please see http://www.nordkalender.org/nikk/arrangement.html?id=1959&back=index.html

From 4 to 5 July 2005 the Society for the Study of French History at the University of Southampton, UK held its annual conference on the subject of 'French History: Spaces and Places.' In one of the sessions the topic of 'Youth and Honour' in Early Modern France was discussed.

Earlier this year, in February, the 'informal educators' responsible for infed.org organised their fourth history conference around the theme 'history of youth and community work.' Speakers included John Pitts (University of Luton) on the 'Historical Development of Youth Justice' and Mary Davis (London Metropolitan University) on the 'History of the Woodcraft Folk.' For more information see www.infed.org/forum/history_conference_2005.htm