Institute of History
Topic
Children and childhood in the long 19th century in the territory of today’s Slovakia – social norms, national and gender concepts of upbringing versus social reality. (Example of certain locality, institution or social strata)
PhD. program
Slovak History
Name of the supervisor
Gabriela Dudeková Kováčová, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Faculty of Arts, Matej Bel University
Annotation
The goal of the PhD Thesis is a research on the History of Childhood. While this field of research is already established in the Western Europe, only few works had been published in the Slovak historiography. In contrast to the experts focused on the history of school institutions and pedagogy, the PhD student will confront norms of upbringing with social reality of childhood.
Using methods of cultural and social history, the Phd student will analyze documents of selected institution (a schooling institution, a orphanage or other institution of social care) and sources on childhood experiences in specific social class. The focus will be given not to the concepts of education, but specific concepts of upringing shaped by gender and ethnic/national belonging (differences in the upringing of boys and girls, language of schooling, national/ist idelogy in the education). The emphasis will be given to the specific historical context and its influence on the norms of upbringing and the social situation of children (e.g. influence of secularization on education, the influence of the political regime and its idelogy on the children and youth organisations). The wide variety of sources will be used – dependig on the specifiation of the topic and time-period: from education manuals and magazines, expert analyses through popular press to reflexions on childhood based on memoires and fiction.
The applicant is expected to provide a basic overview of the social and political history of Slovakia in the (Central-)European context in given period. In addition to knowledge of the Slovak/Czech and English languages, the ability to work with sources in Hungarian and/or German is required for research into the period up to 1918.
Using methods of cultural and social history, the Phd student will analyze documents of selected institution (a schooling institution, a orphanage or other institution of social care) and sources on childhood experiences in specific social class. The focus will be given not to the concepts of education, but specific concepts of upringing shaped by gender and ethnic/national belonging (differences in the upringing of boys and girls, language of schooling, national/ist idelogy in the education). The emphasis will be given to the specific historical context and its influence on the norms of upbringing and the social situation of children (e.g. influence of secularization on education, the influence of the political regime and its idelogy on the children and youth organisations). The wide variety of sources will be used – dependig on the specifiation of the topic and time-period: from education manuals and magazines, expert analyses through popular press to reflexions on childhood based on memoires and fiction.
The applicant is expected to provide a basic overview of the social and political history of Slovakia in the (Central-)European context in given period. In addition to knowledge of the Slovak/Czech and English languages, the ability to work with sources in Hungarian and/or German is required for research into the period up to 1918.