Project description
Shedding light on the education of medieval girls
Women's literacy is a vital issue. Modern historians have long considered women’s literacy during the Middle Ages as something exceptional. However, recent studies on the literature of this period have thrown the spotlight on the education of girls. In this context, the EU-funded ActiLit project will focus on the concept of practical literacy (abilities to read, write and count for practical purposes) at the end of the Middle Ages (1350-1500). It will also research practices and the role of women in the transmission of literacy skills. ActiLit will bring completely new insights into the role of mothers and nuns in monasteries in education.
Objective
Project ACTILIT will focus on female literacy and female literate education at the end of Middle Ages (1350-1500). The ER will adopt a new historiographical approach centered on - a crucial element for the improvement of personal agency - the concept of practical literacy, i.e. one’s abilities to read, write and count in every-day life for practical purposes. ACTILIT will also renew our vision of the role of women in the transmission of literate skills, by highlighting the importance of the role of mothers as first teachers of their children, and nuns’ monasteries as centers of education for both religious and lay girls. Based on the analysis of different sets of documentation written by women (nuns’ archival fonds and corpora of letters), ACTILIT will bring into light (1) the main characteristics of female practical writing (script, accounting techniques, purposes of female practical writings) and the diffusion of such skills among women in a specific society (Tuscany); (2) the knowledge transmissions chains (from mother to daughters, nuns to lay women) and the content of the gendered literacy that was taught to girls; (3) the differences in female practical literacy (formal characteristics, use, extent in society) in different European regions, thanks to the comparison between sets of documents from Tuscany and Germany, that will serve as a foundation for a broader study, at a European level, on women’s capacity to write and count in the pre-modern period. ACTILIT will thus radically change our perception of the relationship between women and literacy in past times.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history medieval history
- social sciences sociology gender studies women’s studies
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
40225 Dusseldorf
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.