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 mould 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. Guiding
Modern Girls adds new depth to what are largely separate
understandings of interwar girlhood, British imperialism, and
internationalism. By analyzing the Guides as a worldwide organization
whose early twentieth-century leaders sought to create a
conservatively modern ideal of gender, class, age, and race relations,
this book also reveals how girls and young women understood, reworked,
and sometimes challenged the expectations placed on them by the
world’s largest voluntary organization for girls.
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Girlhood, Empire, and Internationalism in the 1920s and 1930s
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780774835909
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
University of British Columbia Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter