Childhood, Literacy, and Print Ecologies in American Women’s Writing

SSAWW 2021 Triennial Conference, November 4-7, 2021, Baltimore, Maryland

Abstracts are due to Emily Gowen (egowen@bu.edu) and Sophia Hadley (sophiaap@bu.edu) by January 22. 

To what extent were children imagined into the audiences of nineteenth-century women’s fiction? What sorts of children were included or excluded from the literary cultures of women’s fiction, and to what extent did such fiction respond to, emulate, or reject other mass market cultural forms designated for children? How did educators, activists, religious societies, and publishing houses intervene in cultural debates about what literature was appropriate for children? And how did women writers respond to such interventions? This panel will explore the relationship between the growth of mass print, the expansion of children’s literacy, and the representation of both phenomena in nineteenth-century women’s writing. We welcome proposals on any genre of women’s writing from the long nineteenth-century, and are particularly interested in those that draw upon a range of methodologies. By January 22, please send a 250-300 word abstract, contact information, and a brief (50-60 word) bio to egowen@bu.edu and sophiaap@bu.edu.