The History of Childhood and the Modern Family

The History of Childhood and the Modern Family
HIST*2800                                                           Winter 2015

Instructor: Dr. Heather Parker
Email: parkerh@uoguelph.ca
Office: 1001 MacKinnon Extension
Office Hours: Tuesdays 1-2 pm or by appointment
TA: Sara Perkins (perkinss@uoguelph.ca) office hours TBA

Course Objectives

In the early 1970s, psychotherapist, Lloyd DeMause stated, “childhood is a
nightmare from which we are just awakening.” Around the same time,
comedian Woody Allen asked, “how can I be normal when my parent’s beliefs
were God and Carpeting?” What is family? What is childhood? This course deals
with the major themes in the history of childhood, the transition to adulthood
and the social construction of family life in the institutions of education, social
work, social policy and the health sciences. While the focus is on the Western
world, Britain, the United States and Canada will be emphasized. The course is
intended to be of interest to students of history, sociology, women's studies,
child and family studies and media and consumer culture. We will explore
theories of youth subculture and the family, feminisms, and education and the
emergence of children’s rights. The learning objectives are to be developed are:
literacy, sense of historical development, global understanding, moral maturity,
aesthetic maturity, understanding of forms of inquiry, depth and breadth of
understanding, independence of thought, love of learning.
        The objective of this course is to provide students with a broad
understanding of the major debates and ideas. The lectures will be based on
themes emphasized in the assigned chapters in the required text and readings.
However, handouts, videos and other information—available only at the time
of the lecture, will heavily supplement the lectures. Students are responsible for
everything presented in class as well as the assigned course readings (see
Courselink), therefore attendance at lectures is essential.

Required Texts

Texts are available at either university bookstore, and one copy of each has
been placed on reserve.

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1. John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters: A History of
      Sexuality in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012. (Third
      Edition).

   2. Hugh Cunningham, Children & Childhood in Western Society since 1500.
      London: Routledge, 2004. (Second Edition)

   3. Additional required readings are available on Courselink.

Evaluation

Essay Outline                10%     February 10
Midterm Take-Home            25%     February 24
Research Essay               40%     March 13
Final Take-Home              25%     April 2

Instructions for the outline and essay are posted on Courselink.

Submission

Assignments and take-home exams are due at midnight on the day indicated.
Any assignment submitted after the deadline will be considered late and
deducted 5% per day, 7 days a week. Assignments will not be accepted more
than two weeks after the due date. If you have an acceptable reason for
lateness, please discuss this with the instructor as soon as possible. The burden
of work in this or other courses, employment, sports, or other activities is not
due cause for an extension. No rewrites will be available for the quizzes or
exam. If an extension is granted, documentation for lateness must be submitted
to the instructor. All papers and assignments are to be submitted through the
Dropbox function on Courselink and must be submitted as .rtf , .doc , or .docx
files. Students are required to keep a copy of their submissions.

Tentative Schedule & Required Readings

Unit 1: The Premodern Inheritance

January 6: Introduction: Aries & DeMause
Phillippe Ariès, Lloyd DeMause, and Bettelheim (Courselink)
Cunningham, chap. 1

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January 8: Our Classical Inheritance
Cunningham, chap. 2, pp. 18-24
Primary Sources (Courselink)

January 13 Medieval Families
Cunningham, chap. 2, pp. 25-40
Primary Sources (Courselink)

January 15: Medieval Homosexuality
Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage, “The Sin against Nature and
Homosexuality” in Sexual Practices and the Medieval Church. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus Books, 1994, pp. 55-71. (Courselink)

January 20: The Child in Danger: Fairy Tales
Cunningham, chap. 3
Primary Sources (Courselink)

January 22: Mothers, Babies, Blood and Fairies
Cunningham, chap. 4
Primary Sources (Courselink)

Unit 2: The F-word: Historical Constructions of Fatherhood

January 27: In the Name of the Father
Natalie Zemon Davis, “Ghosts, Kin, and Progeny: Some Features of Family Life in
Early Modern France,” Daedalus 106 (Spring 1977): 87-114. (Courselink)
Short video reference: “The Return of Martin Guerre” (1980)

January 29: First Nations Families: Fatherhood and Colonial Childhood
John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, chap. 1-3.

Unit 3: The Victorian Family

February 3: Growing Up Poor: Home, Work And Street?
Cunningham, chap. 5

February 5: How to Write the Essay
See Courselink for Detailed Instructions

February 10: Living and Dying Victorian Style

February 12: Residential Schools

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Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson, “The Residential School Experience: Syndrome or
Historic Trauma”. (Courselink)

February 16-20, Reading Week: no classes.

February 24: Moral Regulation: Schools and Reform
Linda Mahood, “Street Corner Boys and Vicious Girls.” (Courselink)
Cunningham, chap. 6

Unit 4: Mommy Dearest: Historical Constructions of Motherhood

February 26: Fierce Taunts and the Cult of Domesticity
Patricia Knight, “Women and Abortion in Victorian and Edwardian England,”
History Workshop 4 (1977): 57-68. (Courselink)

March 3: Unwed Mothers in New York
John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, chap. 4-6.

March 5: Thinking Sex: The Contraceptive Revolution
Video: Forbidden Love.
John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, chap. 7-8.

March 10: The Edwardians: Beyond Reproduction
John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, chap. 9-10.
Primary Sources (Courselink)

Unit 5: Give Me the Child and “I’ll show you the Man… ”

March 12: Scientific Toys
Cunningham, chap. 7

March 17: The Dirty ‘30s: Scientific Motherhood
John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, chap. 11-12.
Primary Sources (Courselink)

March 19: The 50s and 60s Families: the way we never were!
John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, chap. 13-14.
Primary Sources (Courselink)

March 24: That 70s Show
Denfeld, Duane and Gordon, Michael, “The sociology of mate swapping: or the
family that swings together clings together,” Journal of Sex Research 6 (1979):
85-100. (Courselink)

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Primary Sources (Courselink)

March 26: The Tidy House
Video Reference: Seven-up!
Primary Sources (Courselink)

March 31 & April 2: Desperate Housewives & Radical Thinking
Cunningham, chap. 8.
John D'Emilio, Estelle B. Freedman, Intimate Matters, chap 15.

University Policies:
E-mail Communication
As per University regulations, all students are required to check their Guelph e-mail account
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students.

When You Cannot Meet a Course Requirement
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Undergraduate Calendar for information on regulations and procedures for Academic
Consideration:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/registrar/calendars/undergraduate/current/c08/c08-ac.shtml

Drop Date
The last date to drop one-semester Winter 2015 courses, without academic penalty, is March
6. For regulations and procedures for Dropping Courses, see the Undergraduate Calendar:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/registrar/calendars/undergraduate/current/c08/c08-drop.shtml

Copies of out-of-class assignments
Keep paper and/or other reliable back-up copies of all out-of-class assignments: you may be
asked to resubmit work at any time.

Accessibility
The University of Guelph is committed to creating a barrier-free environment.
Providing services for students is a shared responsibility among students, faculty and
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the individual and the University community's shared commitment to an open and
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contact the Centre for Students with Disabilities as soon as possible.
For more information, contact CSD at 519-824-4120 ext. 56208 or
emailcsd@uoguelph.ca or see the website: http://www.csd.uoguelph.ca/csd/

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Student Rights and Responsibilities
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that involve, broadly, being a civil and respectful member of the University community. The
Rights and Responsibilities are detailed in the Undergraduate Calendar:
https://www.uoguelph.ca/registrar/calendars/undergraduate/2014-2015/c01/index.shtml

Academic Misconduct
The University of Guelph is committed to upholding the highest standards of academic
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amisconduct.shtml

Recording of Materials
Presentations which are made in relation to course work—including lectures—cannot be
recorded in any electronic media without the permission of the presenter, whether the
instructor, a classmate or guest lecturer. Material recorded with permission is restricted to
use for that course unless further permission is granted.

Resources
The Undergraduate Calendar is the source of information about the University of Guelph’s
procedures, policies and regulations which apply to undergraduate programs. It can be found
at: http://www.uoguelph.ca/registrar/calendars/undergraduate/current/

If you find yourself in difficulty, contact the undergraduate advisor in your program, or the
BA Counselling Office: http://www.uoguelph.ca/baco/contact.shtml

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