Protected Children, Regulated Mothers: Gender and the "Gypsy Question" in State Care in Postwar Hungary, 1949–1956
By Eszter Varsa
()
About this ebook
Protected Children, Regulated Mothers examines child protection in Stalinist Hungary as a part of twentieth-century East Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European history. Across the communist bloc, the prewar foster care system was increasingly replaced after 1945 by institutionalization in residential homes. This shift was often interpreted as a further attempt to establish totalitarian control. However, this study—based on hundreds of children's case files and interviews with institution leaders, teachers, and people formerly in state care—provides a new perspective. Rather than being merely a tool of political repression, state care in postwar Hungary was often shaped by the efforts of policy actors and educators to address the myriad of problems engendered by the social and economic transformations that emerged after World War II. This response built on, rather than broke with, earlier models of reform and reformatory education. Yet child protection went beyond safeguarding and educating children; it also focused on parents, particularly lone mothers, regulating not only their entrance to paid work but also their sexuality. In so doing, children's homes both reinforced and changed existing cultural and social patterns, whether about gendered division of work or the assimilation of minorities. Indeed, a major finding of the book is that state socialist child protection continued a centuries-long national project of seeking a “solution to the Gypsy question,” rooted in efforts to eliminate the perceived “workshyness” of Roma.
Eszter Varsa
Eszter Varsa is post-doctoral researcher in the ERC project ZARAH: Women's Labour Activism in Eastern Europe and Transnationally, From the Age of Empires to the Late 20th Century at Central European University, Vienna.
Related to Protected Children, Regulated Mothers
Related ebooks
The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary, Condensed Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCarmen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Long Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuitable Strangers: The Hungarian Revolution, a Hunger Strike, and Ireland's First Refugee Camp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHungary's Cold War: International Relations from the End of World War II to the Fall of the Soviet Union Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Inflatable Buddha Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Touch of Imagination: An Intelligent Traveler’s Guide to Hungary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPromoting the Saints: Cults and Their Contexts from Late Antiquity until the Early Modern Period Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBudapest Noir: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Visegrad: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn a Different Place: Pilgrimage, Gender, and Politics at a Greek Island Shrine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHungarian Culture and Politics in the Habsburg Monarchy 1711-1848 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNationalism and the Economy: Explorations into a Neglected Relationship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Collectivization of Agriculture in Communist Eastern Europe: Comparison and Entanglements Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSubversive Stages: Theater in Pre- and Post-Communist Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Beyond Mosque, Church, and State: Alternative Narratives of the Nation in the Balkans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYugoslavia's Sunny Side: A History of Tourism in Socialism (1950s–1980s) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDemography and Nation: Social Legislation and Population Policy in Bulgaria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Village and the Class War: Anti-Kulak Campaign in Estonia 1944-49 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDynamics of Class and Stratification in Poland: 1945–2015 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivide and Pacify: Strategic Social Policies and Political Protests in Post-Communist Democracies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSocial and Economic Networks in Early Massachusetts: Atlantic Connections Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRe-imagining Indigenous Knowledge and Practices in 21st Century Africa: Debunking Myths and Misconceptions for Conviviality a Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Invisible Shining: The Cult of Mátyás Rákosi in Stalinist Hungary, 19451956 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBalkan Family Structure and the European Pattern: Demographic Developments in Ottoman Bulgaria Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlacental Politics: CHamoru Women, White Womanhood, and Indigeneity under U.S. Colonialism in Guam Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwenty-Five Sides of a Post-Communist Mafia State Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Strengthening Young Bodies, Building the Nation: ASocial History of the Child Health and Welfare in Greece (1890–1940) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemembering Communism: Private and Public Recollections of Lived Experience in Southeast Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPolitical Philosophies and Nation-Building in Cameroon: Grounds for Remaking the Postcolony Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social Science For You
Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Men Explain Things to Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Close Encounters with Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Questions for Couples: 469 Thought-Provoking Conversation Starters for Connecting, Building Trust, and Rekindling Intimacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Protected Children, Regulated Mothers
0 ratings0 reviews