As the title for this course suggests, there is no one history of childhood. There are many histories—some which deal with ideas about childhood, others which discuss forms of child care, others which deal with children’s play and work, and so on. Rather than a single history of childhood, what we will explore here are several distinct and important moments in something we normally call western civilization, focusing on the tension between how important thinkers in those moments characterized childhood and the place of children in the regulation of their societies and cultures. In doing so, we will examine the place of idealized notions of childhood in larger arguments about the proper organization of social, cultural, and political life, and consider to whom those notions might reasonably have applied. By exploring past ideas about childhood, practices of child-rearing, and experiences of children, we will perhaps move closer to understanding how and why ‘children are our future’…and what a homunculus is….

Required Readings

• Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile.
• Cunningham, Hugh. Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500.
• Aries, Phillipe. Centuries of Childhood.

All other readings will be placed on reserve well before the day that they are due. These readings are marked with an asterisk (*). Please make a photocopy of each of these readings and to bring it to class on the day it is due.

Course Assignments

•Précis: A three-page analysis of the first readings for the class. You will receive a detailed description of the assignment at the first class. Due September 3. (10% of your grade)
•In-Class Presentation: Each member of the class will be responsible for an in-class presentation on one of the final three units of the course. Class members will work in teams (number to be determined by the size of the class), each member of which will have a specific responsibility in the presentation. We will discuss this in detail during the first class. (15% of your grade)
•Final Paper Proposal: This will consist of a five-page written proposal for your final research paper, an annotated bibliography, and an outline of the proposed paper. You will receive detailed instructions on how to successfully complete this assignment well before the due date. Due in class on October 31. (20% of your grade)
•Final Paper: For your final paper, you will be responsible for a major research paper of approximately 20-25pp, on a set of topics that you will receive well in advance of the due date for the proposal, annotated bibliography, and outline. (40% of your grade)
•Class Participation and Attendance: Your attendance is required at all classes unless you have previously arranged to be absent, or have a valid excuse following an absence. Participation—coming to class prepared and contributing to discussion—is an essential part of your experience in this class. (15% of your grade)

What Is Childhood?

August 29
Introduction: No Reading

September 3
Aries, Centuries of Childhood: 15-61, 100-133
Cunningham, Children and Childhood in Western Society Since 1500: 1-18

September 5
Pollack, Forgotten Children: 1-67*

Classical Childhoods

September 10
Cunningham, 19-29
Golden, Children and Childhood in Classical Athens: 1-50*

September 12
Plato, The Republic: Allegory of the Cave and Book 5*

September 17
Aristotle, Selection from the Politics: *
Golden, 80-114*

September 19
Lucian, “An Affair of the Heart”*
Plutarch, excerpt from the Moralia*

September 24
Foucault, History of Sexuality, Vol. 3: “Boys”*
Golden, 51-79*

September 26
Evans, War, Women and Children in Ancient Rome: 166-200*
Seneca, excerpts from “On Anger” and “On Favours.”*

Humanizing the Child: European Childhood Before and After the Enlightenment

October 1
Aries, 137-157
Pollack, 96-124*
Cunningham, 30-40

October 3
Barbara Hanawalt, Growing Up in Medieval London: 23-39, 55-87*
Recommended: Hanawalt, 109-127*

October 8
Rabelais, François, Gargantua and Pantagruel: 47-92, 171-202*

October 10
Nicholas Orme, Medieval Children: 238-304*
Cunningham, 41-61

October 15
Michel de Montaigne, “Of The Education of Children”*

October 17
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education: 83-118*

October 22
Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education: 148-223*

October 24
Jonathan Swift, “A Short View of the State of Ireland” and “A Modest Proposal”*
Charles Perrault, “Cinderella” and excerpts from Memoirs of My Life*

Children Human and Not So Human: Childhood in the Nineteenth Century

October 29
Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile: Books 1 & 2

October 31
Jean Itard, “Of The First Developments of the Young Savage of Aveyron”*

November 5
Valerie Sanders, Records of Girlhood: “Amelia Opie” and “Charlotte Elizabeth”*
Wilma King, Stolen Childhood: 1-91*

November 7
Bernard Wishy, The Child and the Republic: 3-24, 42-66*

November 12
Paper Conferences

From Sentimentality to Science and Back: 20th Century Childhoods

November 14
Priscilla Clement, “The City and the Child, 1860-1885” *
David Nasaw, Children of the City: 1-61*

November 19
Sigmund Freud, “Infantile Sexuality”*
John Watson, “Instinctive Activity in Animals”*
Franz Boas, “Changes in the Bodily Form of the Descendants of Immigrants”*
Recommended: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Concerning Children (72pp)

November 21
Viviana Zelizer, Pricing the Priceless Child: 22-55*
Recommended: Hamilton Cravens, “Child Saving in the Age of Professionalism, 1915-1930”*

November 26
Terry Strathman, “From The Quotidian to the Utopian: Child-Rearing Literature in America, 1926-1946”*
Henry Jenkins, “The Sensuous Child: Benjamin Spock and Sexual Revolution”*

November 28
Thanksgiving

December 3
Judith Levine, Harmful to Minors: Introduction, Ch. 1-2*
David Archard, “The Right to Sexual Choice”*

December 5
Henry Jenkins, Testimony Before Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate 5/4/99*
William Bennett, Testimony Before Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, U.S. Senate 5/4/99*
Recommended: Amy Nyberg, Seal of Approval, Ch. 3*

December 10
Final Paper Due