Brooklyn College Library LibGuides Home: HIST 3320: The History of Childhood : Unit 3: A Brief History of the History of Childhood Secondary Sources and the Problem with Historiography

Read

Required

The Discovery of Childhood [pdf]
Ariès, Phillipe. (1962) “Chapter 2: The Discovery of Childhood” In Centuries of Childhood.
Histories of Childhood
Clark, J. (2004) Histories of Childhood In Dominic Wyse Childhood Studies: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons.

Anastasia Ulanowicz, Philippe Ariès
Anastasia Ulanowicz (n.d) Philippe Ariès. Representing Childhood - Theorists - Philippe Ariès
Different Cultures, Different Childhoods
Montgomery, Heather. (2019, Mar. 1) “Different Cultures, Different Childhoods”. OpenLearn Open University
Re-Visioning Women and Social Change: Where Are the Children?
Thorne, Barrie. "Re-Visioning Women and Social Change: Where Are the Children?," Gender and Society 1, no. 1 (1987): 85-109.

Primary Sources:

National Galleries of Scotland: Children in Art
This feature looks at some of the images in the collection that focus on children. The representation of children in western art has varied greatly over the centuries. From traditional portraiture and imagined scenes of play, to images of loss and hardship, see how at how artists have portrayed children and the notion of childhood at different periods of time.

Some of the earliest illustrations of children in western art are medieval depictions of the infant Jesus Christ. In these images he is shown as a mini-adult; a small man, stiff and unnatural. These were pictures that were made to teach devotion, not to please the eye or display the artist’s skill. Often the baby interacted as an adult would do, with his hands giving instruction or blessing.
Medieval Children Paintings
NOTE: This is a commercial site but gives you an idea and takes you to different links.
ARTstor
For authentic images or pictures, search ARTstor, the most reliable resource for academic and scholarly use. "ARTstor features works in the areas of art, architecture, religion, anthropology, literature, and world history, and contains more than one million images. The site allows users to search and browse within multiple categories. Along with full color and black and white images with zoom capability, users can find information on date, repository, and material(s), and can save search results in folders. The database also provides detailed subject guides that include information on featured collections and commonly used search terms."
https://www.artstor.org

Discussion Questions

Who was Philip Ariès? Why is he important for our understanding of the modern child? Do you agree with Philip Ariès’ view that “child” is a “modern invention”? Illustrate your answer with suitable examples.
What new insights did Barrie Thorne bring to our understanding of modern childhood? Can you establish a personal connection with her argument?
Why do you think children and childhood are important categories of historical analysis? What are the different ways of studying histories of childhood?

Work to do

Discussion Board

Discussion Board (DB) #1 Sharing Our Past due on Blackboard blackboard logo, takes you to blackboard page. .

Looking into the Future

Write a paragraph or two (300-350 words, 1 page) about an occasion, object (toy, book, music, film, event, etc.), picture, memory, individual that acts as a defining moment of your childhood. Please be specific about your age, ethnicity, race, gender, location (which city, country), time period (tentative year), members involved; description of the object, event, and any other factor that was important for that moment.

You will share the above information with the class to explore how our childhood experiences are determined by age, location, region, context, gender, ethnicity, religion, relationships, and other specific conditions.

HIST 3320: The History of Childhood