Rousseau's Daughters

by Popiel, Jennifer J.

• ISBN13: 9781584657323
• ISBN10: 1584657324
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-28
• Publisher: Univ of New Hampshire

Summary

In this lively interdisciplinary blend of history, education, and material culture, Jennifer J. Popiel examines ideological and cultural shifts in French child rearing and maternity from pre-Revolutionary France to 1833. She shows how ideals promoted in Rousseau's educational treatise Emile (1762) anchored women more firmly in private life by emphasizing their critical role in their children's early education and development. Emile marked the beginning of a widespread shift toward domestic nurturing, with an emphasis on self-control, autonomy, and gender difference. This "domestic revolution" not only drove new genres of literature, clothing styles, and toys, but as Popiel persuasively argues, it also set the stage for greater civic participation of women and children.

Author Biography

JENNIFER J POPIEL is assistant professor in the Department of History, Saint Louis University, Missouri.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Enlightening Mothers: Gender and Self-Control in France	p. 1
Lessons from Rousseau: Self-Control, Sexual Difference, and Changing Ideals	p. 26
Freeing the Body, Educating the Mind: Childhood in Clothing and Toys	p. 52
"You will reign by means of love": Advice Manuals and Domestic Motherhood	p. 89
"To Amuse and Instruct": Self-Control, Adult Expectations, and Children's Literature	p. 112
Education and Politics: Schooling, Revolution, and Rousseau	p. 140
Conclusion: Autonomous Individuality, Self-Control, and Domesticity	p. 165
Notes	p. 181
Bibliography	p. 223
Index	p. 259
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