Kay Waddilove: Motherhood in 1950s Populist Children’s Literature

You are warmly invited to

‘Housewife or Citizen? Constructing Motherhood in Populist Children’s Literature of the 1950s’
Kay Waddilove, NCRCL PhD Candidate, Roehampton University

1957 cover of John Bull magazine. Image via Gillian Thomas.

The talk examines the construction of motherhood in stories by four popular children’s writers in the context of post-war citizenship. Giving central importance to the family was seen by government as a crucial part of national reconciliation after the Second World War, and a new concept of wives and mothers as citizens was to emerge. The traditional female role became a lynchpin of consensus, and the consequent gendered notions of citizenship for women conflated their performance of the maternal biological and nurturing role with their proficiency as housewives. This talk will situate representations of mothers by popular authors such as Noel Streatfeild and Enid Blyton within such discursive constructions of maternity during the 1950s.

Wednesday 7^th December
1-2 pm
Fincham 001, Roehampton University

ALL WELCOME