HIST 3320: The History of Childhood

Week 3: Conceptualizing and Writing Children and Childhood from Primary Sources

Tuesday, Sept. 10:

• Heidi Morrison, Global History of Childhood (GHC), “Introduction” “What is the Global

History of Childhood?” (BB)

• Heather Montgomery, “Different Cultures, Different Childhoods”

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/different-cultures-different-childhoods

Discussion Questions: 

• Why is it important to study a global history of childhood?
• Do you think there is one uniform notion of childhood? Support your answers with suitable examples.

• What are the different kinds of sources that help us write histories of childhood? Discuss at least four from the list on the syllabus. Feel free to bring in outside examples. 

Thursday, Sept. 12: Secondary Source

• Usha Menon, “The Hindu Views of Childhood and Child Rearing,” Oxford Bibliographies

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199791231/obo-9780199791231-0183.xml

Primary Sources

• The Student Stage of Life (text): Brahmacharya

https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/325.html

• Childhood and Transatlantic Slavery by Steven Mintz: https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/case-studies/57.html

Writing about Childhood: Gandhi’s Autobiography

• https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/An-Autobiography.pdf (Chapters 1, 2, 3)

Writing for children: Advice of an Aztec Mother to Her Daughter [Document] https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/443 

• Advice of an Aztec Father to His Sons [Document] https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/442
• Writing on Children: Gandhi on Children https://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap58.htm

Discussion Board DB#2 due on Thursday, Sept. 12, before class.

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.