Constructing Reformatory Identity

Kaisa Vehkalahti

ISBN 10: 3039119133 / ISBN 13: 9783039119134

Published by Peter Lang, Peter Lang Sep 2009, 2009

About this Item

Neuware -By focusing on one particular re-education institution, this book offers a multifaceted analysis of practices of diagnosis and curing what was defined as «delinquency», «criminality» or «disorderly behaviour» at the turn of the twentieth century. The study provides an important corrective to the existing accounts of re-education by proposing an approach in which institutional practices are analysed both from above and from below. The book draws attention to the process of reforming identities ¿ the construction of reformatory identities ¿ as the core of residential re-education. Special emphasis is placed on the interplay of notions of gender and social background.The book is based on extensive archival research drawing from a wide range of new and neglected sources. The primary material includes a unique collection of documents produced by the girls of the Vuorela State Reform School in Finland. Narrative analysis of correspondence, and careful scrutiny of the official sources created for re-educational purposes, form a basis for the investigation of the interaction between pupils¿ own self-expression and the aims of re-education in the construction of reformed identities. The practices developed in Finland are carefully contextualised in the European history of re-education.Books on Demand GmbH, Überseering 33, 22297 Hamburg 376 pp. Englisch.

Seller Inventory # 9783039119134

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Constructing Reformatory Identity
• Publisher: Peter Lang, Peter Lang Sep 2009
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3039119133
• ISBN 13: 9783039119134
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu

About this title

Synopsis

By focusing on one particular re-education institution, this book offers a multifaceted analysis of practices of diagnosis and curing what was defined as «delinquency», «criminality» or «disorderly behaviour» at the turn of the twentieth century. The study provides an important corrective to the existing accounts of re-education by proposing an approach in which institutional practices are analysed both from above and from below. The book draws attention to the process of reforming identities – the construction of reformatory identities – as the core of residential re-education. Special emphasis is placed on the interplay of notions of gender and social background.
The book is based on extensive archival research drawing from a wide range of new and neglected sources. The primary material includes a unique collection of documents produced by the girls of the Vuorela State Reform School in Finland. Narrative analysis of correspondence, and careful scrutiny of the official sources created for re-educational purposes, form a basis for the investigation of the interaction between pupils’ own self-expression and the aims of re-education in the construction of reformed identities. The practices developed in Finland are carefully contextualised in the European history of re-education.

About the Author

The Author: Kaisa Vehkalahti is a research co-ordinator at the Finnish Youth Research Society. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Finland. Her research interests include the history of education, childhood and youth studies, and the cultural history of writing. Her research has focused on the history of Finnish re-education, discourses of girls’ delinquency, the history of letter-writing, and the history of Finnish women’s magazines.