This course is devoted to comparative perspectives on the cultural, social, economic, and political history of childhood and youth in both 19th century Europe and the Ottoman Empire. More specifically, it will focus on how children as historical actors played a role in the history of their communities. An introduction on children in historiography will be followed by explorations of : European and Ottoman childhood(s) before the modern era; the ''discovery'' of childhood and youth in modern times; families and child-rearing; motherhood and fatherhood; policies and practices relating to education; policies and practices relating to Ottoman child labor; crime, criminalization, and juvenile delinquency; mechanisms of constructing adolescence; the sexuality of childhood and youth; orphans and non-family environments of growing up. The course will conclude with a preview of childhood and youth issues in modern Turkey.
