Join us for a preview of an upcoming Special Issue of the European Review of History on youth and gender in the mid-20th century. For this reading group, we will consider the introduction and a selection of the papers, discussing the turn in recent historiography towards children’s experiences of armed conflict.

Readings will be circulated to the mailing list a week before the meeting.

Please email mailto:barnabas.balint@magd.ox.ac.uk or mailto:cailee.davis@st-annes.ox.ac.uk if you wish to be added to the circulation list.

Katharina Seibert and Barnabas Balint, ‘Rallying Europe: Young women and men searching for a life and a future’, European Review of History (2024)

Abstract: “The turmoil of the mid-twentieth century saw young people mobilised for action across Europe in an unprecedented manner. Concurrently, against the backdrop of the struggle between democratic and authoritarian projects, war and fragile peace, young people increasingly became a target of state legislation, (mass) organisations and other institutions. From the end of the First World War to the aftermath of the Second World War, Europe witnessed fundamental changes in the social regimes that determined societal power distribution. This special issue approaches the first half of the 20th century through the lens of age and gender as interdependent categories of analysis. In doing so, we reveal how adult perceptions of youth and gender framed young men and women’s lives and their roles in society. Vice versa, we explore how these perceptions collided with youth agency, probing the specific age- and gender-related dynamics of empowerment and organization. By zooming in on the concrete young actors and the institutional settings that limited their scope of action, processes of wayward appropriations will be contrasted with institutionalised attempts to control and lead “the young”. As such, we contribute to a global academic discussion on age, gender, the lifecycle, and intersectionality.”