Legislating the French Family examines family law reform in France from the foundation of the Third Republic in 1870 to the aftermath of World War I in 1920. Combining literary and historical approaches, Jean Elisabeth Pedersen provides a unique perspective on the political culture of modern France, analyzing French "problem" plays and their reception both as a measure of public opinion and as a force for social change. This new approach reveals the complex cultural narratives within, against, and in spite of which feminists, journalists, medical experts, playwrights, and politicians contended. Pedersen’s work demonstrates how republican political debates over divorce, illegitimacy, abortion, and birth control both provoked and responded to larger arguments about the meanings of French citizenship, national identity, and imperial expansion. She argues that these debates complicated the idea of French citizenship, exposed the myth of the supposedly ungendered individual citizen, and reveal to us the intricate intersections among conflicts over family law, sexual politics, class structure, religious belief, republican citizenship, national identity, and imperial policy.
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About the Author
Jean Elisabeth Pedersen is an associate professor of history at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester.
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What makes books like Legislating the French Family so interesting are in how they broaden our perspectives on history. In the book, Pedersen theorizes that family policy debates were closely tied to debates about French national identity. In some ways, this is similar to today's continued debates about the state and its role toward the family. While we have much more to accomplish egalitarianism even today, it was refreshing to remind me how far we've come
While it is an academic text, I found that Pedersen's examination of family legislation--laws on divorce, paternity suits, and reproductive rights--broadened my understanding of 19th century developments of French egalitarianism. Pedersen does this by examining 19th century French laws through the combined lenses of theatre, feminist activism, and parliamentary contests to argue that her analysis of particularly "controversial" plays and their reception brings into relief the "broad cultural narratives." I'd say that similar public arenas exist today and many similar egalitarian issues are still debated.
While it is an academic text, I found that Pedersen's examination of family legislation--laws on divorce, paternity suits, and reproductive rights--broadened my understanding of 19th century developments of French egalitarianism. Pedersen does this by examining 19th century French laws through the combined lenses of theatre, feminist activism, and parliamentary contests to argue that her analysis of particularly "controversial" plays and their reception brings into relief the "broad cultural narratives." I'd say that similar public arenas exist today and many similar egalitarian issues are still debated.
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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national des droits civils, legal paternity suits, legalize paternity suits, debate over paternity suits, française pour les droits, semaine dramatique, international des oeuvres, national des femmes françaises, colonial clause, institutions féminines, suffrage des femmes, droit des femmes, social theater, fils nature, useful theater, debate over divorce, legalize divorce, journal officiel, parliamentary proposals, republican feminists, deux vies, mandatory conversion, divorce reform, identités nationales, colonized women Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Chamber of Deputies, Civil Code, Naquet Law, Third Republic, French Revolution, Roman Catholic, Léon Richer, Paul Hervieu, Alexandre Dumas, Alfred Naquet, Second Empire, Gustave Rivet, Marguerite Durand, Ignace Law, Madame Cavarlet, Jullien Law, Maria Deraismes, Nelly Roussel, René Viviani, World War, Charles Sternay, Gil Blas, Maria Pognon, René Bérenger, Emile Augier New!
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national des droits civils, legal paternity suits, legalize paternity suits, debate over paternity suits, française pour les droits, semaine dramatique, international des oeuvres, national des femmes françaises, colonial clause, institutions féminines, suffrage des femmes, droit des femmes, social theater, fils nature, useful theater, debate over divorce, legalize divorce, journal officiel, parliamentary proposals, republican feminists, deux vies, mandatory conversion, divorce reform, identités nationales, colonized women Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Chamber of Deputies, Civil Code, Naquet Law, Third Republic, French Revolution, Roman Catholic, Léon Richer, Paul Hervieu, Alexandre Dumas, Alfred Naquet, Second Empire, Gustave Rivet, Marguerite Durand, Ignace Law, Madame Cavarlet, Jullien Law, Maria Deraismes, Nelly Roussel, René Viviani, World War, Charles Sternay, Gil Blas, Maria Pognon, René Bérenger, Emile Augier New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 85
books:
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- The French Revolution (Questions and Analysis in History) by Jocelyn Hunt on 11 pages
- French Feminism in the 19th Century by Claire Goldberg Moses on 5 pages
- The Family Romance of the French Revolution (Centennial Book) by Lynn Hunt on 5 pages
- Sexuality and Social Order by Angus McLaren on 4 pages
- Citizenship and Nationhood in France and Germany by Rogers Brubaker on 4 pages
See all 85 books this book cites
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