Preliminary Programme

Wed 30 March
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 31 March
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 1 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 2 April
    8.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

All days
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Wednesday 30 March 2016 11.00 - 13.00
L-2 EDU02 Children, Youth and Education in the Age of the World Wars
Aula 9, Nivel 1
Network: Education and Childhood Chair: Anne Berg
Organizer: Esbjörn Larsson Discussants: -
Valentina Boretti : Toying with Defence: Playthings and War in 1930-1940s China
This paper will examine the use of toys and toy-making in 1930s-1940s China as tools to provide induction to anti-Japanese resistance – and warfare. While a connection between playthings and mobilization had been in place since the early twentieth century, and military toys could be called “educational”, the 1930s witnessed ... (Show more)
This paper will examine the use of toys and toy-making in 1930s-1940s China as tools to provide induction to anti-Japanese resistance – and warfare. While a connection between playthings and mobilization had been in place since the early twentieth century, and military toys could be called “educational”, the 1930s witnessed an increased use of all sorts of playthings to familiarize war. This culminated in the discursive emergence of “defence toys” and “resistance toys”, namely replica weapons with little ludic intention left. As disseminated by publications for children and adults, events, and school activities, playing with toy armaments, tanks or planes, and above all reproducing them out of scrap materials, was to acquaint children with warfare, technology and labour concurrently. Equipping youngsters with defence awareness, patriotism and inventiveness, toys were thus construed as tools or “models” to train ideal militant citizens, coaching them for prospective enactment. (Show less)

Ingrid Brühwiler : Citizenship Education in Swiss Public Schools Challenged by the First World War
In Switzerland, citizenship education was intensively discussed during the 1910s. Patriotic ideals and the love of the fatherland were described with diligence in teachers’ journals. After the outbreak of the World War I, Swiss teachers reacted immediately to the new circumstances and published lessons in their weekly teacher journals for ... (Show more)
In Switzerland, citizenship education was intensively discussed during the 1910s. Patriotic ideals and the love of the fatherland were described with diligence in teachers’ journals. After the outbreak of the World War I, Swiss teachers reacted immediately to the new circumstances and published lessons in their weekly teacher journals for every day of school for different grade levels. These lessons comprised current events and civic education as well as didactical instructions for the teacher. In pupils’ essays, citizens are often depicted as religious members of society who are industrious and hardworking, whereas in the journals, religious aspects are related to peace but not to citizenship education. As a multilingual and neutral country, Switzerland struggled with major domestic problems due to the cultural conflict between the French- and the German-speaking regions, especially during wartime. However, teachers promoted unity from the beginning. Therefore, changes and continuities during this decade concerning citizenship education are of crucial research interest. The practical sections of teachers’ journals, including lessons and didactical instructions, and pupils’ essays provide insight into what happened in the classrooms. In the presentation following questions are focused: Which forms of national identity and citizenship were taught in classrooms before, during and shortly after WW1 in public schools in Switzerland? How did pupils describe the current issues of war and citizenship? (Show less)

Esbjörn Larsson : Children and Youth in Arms: Military Training at Swedish Schools during World War I and II
This paper investigates military training for children and youth as a part of school education during World War I and II. Like many other Western European countries, Sweden had a tradition of weapon drills in schools from the late 1800s and forward. In Sweden these exercises were stopped in 1917, ... (Show more)
This paper investigates military training for children and youth as a part of school education during World War I and II. Like many other Western European countries, Sweden had a tradition of weapon drills in schools from the late 1800s and forward. In Sweden these exercises were stopped in 1917, but in 1940 the question of defence service training for children and youth surfaced again due to the escalating world war.
The study compares the military exercises in schools during WW I with the ones introduced during WW II using government regulations and manuals as well as reports and other material from individual schools. Contrary to what one might assume, in light of the changing perception of children during the first half of the 1900s, there were no dramatic changes in how the military training for children and adolescents were conducted during the two world wars. The study instead reveals changes in the general purpose of the military training, from character formation to more of a transfer of useful knowledge. (Show less)

Fabiana Loparco : The “Warring Children” on the Pages of the Italian Magazine Corriere dei Piccoli during WWI: between Unreality and Sacrifice
Fabiana Loparco (University of Macerata) aims to explore the warring education of children in Italy during WWI on the pages of the most important Italian children’s magazine, the Corriere dei Piccoli. Analysing stories and comics published from 1914 to 1918, she will examine the educational messages proposed by the magazine ... (Show more)
Fabiana Loparco (University of Macerata) aims to explore the warring education of children in Italy during WWI on the pages of the most important Italian children’s magazine, the Corriere dei Piccoli. Analysing stories and comics published from 1914 to 1918, she will examine the educational messages proposed by the magazine and devoted to instruct children at the values of sacrifice, duty, and Homeland with the final purpose to build a “militarized childhood”. The patriotic representation of the Corriere dei Piccoli altered the ethical nature of the war: by ignoring the reality of battlefields, comics, on one hand, described WWI as a harmless and funny game, while tales, on the other hand, described it as a “training of courage” and a “birthplace of heroes”. The final objective is to demonstrate that the particular interpretation of the conflict proposed by the Corriere had the intent of unifying the nation around common ideals that would have shaped and reinforced a national identity into the children of the young Italian kingdom. (Show less)



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