Project description
The redefinition of child in female fiction in the modernist period
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, childhood gained importance in British culture. Children were studied to prepare them for adulthood, with traits like rationality and autonomy associated with masculinity. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme, the MODCHILD project studies how female fiction writers in the modernist period redefined childhood, making it a vehicle for feminist ideas and new modes of representation. The project takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining literary, childhood, and feminist studies through KU Leuven’s research centres. The project will produce two journal articles, a monograph proposal, an edited collection, four conference papers, and outreach to non-academic audiences.
Objective
The project will examine representations of children and childhood in women’s fiction of the modernist period (c. 1890-1950). The concept of childhood became central to late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century British culture, when the child-figure was used to explore important questions about identity and gender. Scientific investigations of children led to views of childhood as a developmental stage, the role of which was to prepare the child to become a rational and autonomous adult – characteristics associated with ideas of masculinity. The project explores how female fiction writers of the period reshaped and rejected male-centred scientific definitions of childhood in order to reimagine the child, making it a vehicle for feminist ideas and a propeller of new modes of representation. The project will pursue an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on expertise in literary studies, childhood studies, and feminist studies, acquired and consolidated through KU Leuven’s research centres: MDRN (focusing on modernist culture), and LCH2 (Leuven Centre for Health Humanities, with a special focus on representations of age). This expertise will primarily be developed by training-through-research under the supervision of Elke D’hoker, an expert on women’s fiction and modernist literature. The main deliverables will be two journal articles, a monograph proposal, and an edited collection, arising from an international symposium organised at KU Leuven. The research will also lead to the delivery of four conference papers, and communication to non-academic audiences through European Researchers’ Nights, a public lecture, a newspaper article, and a workshop for high school students.
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
3000 Leuven
Belgium