Kristine Alexander - Böcker

Many believed the twentieth century would be the century of the child: an era in which modern societies would value and protect children, sheltering them from violence and poverty. Yet this hopeful vision was marred by the harsh realities of migration, displacement, and armed conflict. Small Stories of War grapples with the meanings and memories of childhood and wartime by asking new questions about lived experience. Spanning the First World War to the early twenty-first century and featuring chapters about Canada, Australia, Germany, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and northern Uganda, this volume asks how young people encountered and responded to armed conflict. How did children, youth, and their families make sense of war in the violent twentieth century? How have they shared their stories and experiences of violence and trauma? Analyzing a broad range of sources including family letters, oral history, and children's artwork, contributors offer important insights into the production of historical knowledge with and about young people.Engaging with cutting-edge debates about emotions, temporality, space, and young people as political actors, Small Stories of War offers compelling new research and an interpretive toolkit that will benefit scholars from across the social sciences and humanities.

Across the British Empire and the world, the 1920s and 1930s were a time of unprecedented social and cultural change. Girls and young women were at the heart of many of these shifts, which included the aftermath of the First World War, the enfranchisement of women, and the rise of the flapper or "Modern Girl." Out of this milieu, the Girl Guide movement emerged as a response to popular concerns about age, gender, race, class, and social instability. The British-based Guide movement attracted more than a million members in over forty countries during the interwar years. Its success, however, was neither simple nor straightforward. Using an innovative multi-sited approach, Kristine Alexander digs deeper to analyze the ways in which Guiding sought to mold young people in England, Canada, and India. She weaves together a fascinating account that connects the histories of girlhood, internationalism, and empire, while asking how girls and young women understood and responded to Guiding's attempts to lead them toward a service-oriented, "useful" feminine future.

Across the British Empire and the world, the 1920s and 1930s were a time of unprecedented social and cultural change. Girls and young women were at the heart of many of these shifts, which included the aftermath of the First World War, the enfranchisement of women, and the rise of the flapper or "Modern Girl." Out of this milieu, the Girl Guide movement emerged as a response to popular concerns about age, gender, race, class, and social instability. The British-based Guide movement attracted more than a million members in over forty countries during the interwar years. Its success, however, was neither simple nor straightforward. Using an innovative multi-sited approach, Kristine Alexander digs deeper to analyze the ways in which Guiding sought to mold young people in England, Canada, and India. She weaves together a fascinating account that connects the histories of girlhood, internationalism, and empire, while asking how girls and young women understood and responded to Guiding's attempts to lead them toward a service-oriented, "useful" feminine future.