Childhood in the Promised Land

Working-Class Movements and the Colonies de Vacances in France, 1880–1960

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching, History, France
Cover of the book Childhood in the Promised Land by Laura Lee Downs, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Laura Lee Downs ISBN: 9780822383963
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: November 29, 2002
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Laura Lee Downs
ISBN: 9780822383963
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: November 29, 2002
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Childhood in the Promised Land is the first history of France's colonies de vacances, a vast network of summer camps created for working-class children. The colonies originated as a late-nineteenth-century charitable institution, providing rural retreats intended to restore the fragile health of poor urban children. Participation grew steadily throughout the first half of the twentieth century, "trickling up" by the late 1940s to embrace middle-class youth as well.

At the heart of the study lie the municipal colonies de vacances, organized by the working-class cities of the Paris red belt. Located in remote villages or along the more inexpensive stretches of the Atlantic coast, the municipal colonies gathered their young clientele into variously structured "child villages," within which they were to live out particular, ideal visions of the collective life of children throughout the long summer holiday. Focusing on the creation of and participation in these summer camps, Laura Lee Downs presents surprising insights into the location and significance of childhood in French working-class cities and, ultimately, within the development of modern France.

Drawing on a rich array of historical sources, including dossiers and records of municipal colonies discovered in remote town halls of the Paris suburbs, newspaper accounts, and interviews with adults who participated in the colonies as children, Downs reveals how diverse groups—including local Socialist and Communist leaders and Catholic seminarians—seized the opportunity to shape the minds and bodies of working-class youth. Childhood in the Promised Land shows how, in creating the summer camps, these various groups combined pedagogical theories, religious convictions, political ideologies, and theories about the relationship between the countryside and children's physical and cognitive development. At the same time, the book sheds light on classic questions of social control, highlighting the active role of the children in shaping their experiences.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Childhood in the Promised Land is the first history of France's colonies de vacances, a vast network of summer camps created for working-class children. The colonies originated as a late-nineteenth-century charitable institution, providing rural retreats intended to restore the fragile health of poor urban children. Participation grew steadily throughout the first half of the twentieth century, "trickling up" by the late 1940s to embrace middle-class youth as well.

At the heart of the study lie the municipal colonies de vacances, organized by the working-class cities of the Paris red belt. Located in remote villages or along the more inexpensive stretches of the Atlantic coast, the municipal colonies gathered their young clientele into variously structured "child villages," within which they were to live out particular, ideal visions of the collective life of children throughout the long summer holiday. Focusing on the creation of and participation in these summer camps, Laura Lee Downs presents surprising insights into the location and significance of childhood in French working-class cities and, ultimately, within the development of modern France.

Drawing on a rich array of historical sources, including dossiers and records of municipal colonies discovered in remote town halls of the Paris suburbs, newspaper accounts, and interviews with adults who participated in the colonies as children, Downs reveals how diverse groups—including local Socialist and Communist leaders and Catholic seminarians—seized the opportunity to shape the minds and bodies of working-class youth. Childhood in the Promised Land shows how, in creating the summer camps, these various groups combined pedagogical theories, religious convictions, political ideologies, and theories about the relationship between the countryside and children's physical and cognitive development. At the same time, the book sheds light on classic questions of social control, highlighting the active role of the children in shaping their experiences.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Pirate Novels by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Borrowed Time by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Owners of the Sidewalk by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Racism and Cultural Studies by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Ontological Terror by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book The Empty Cradle of Democracy by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Mad Toy by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book In Search of the Rain Forest by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book The American Colonial State in the Philippines by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book The Mangle in Practice by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Chocolate and Other Writings on Male Homoeroticism by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Conversations in Exile by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Inventing High and Low by Laura Lee Downs
Cover of the book Hemispheric Imaginings by Laura Lee Downs
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy