A Cultural History of Youth in the Age of Empire

Abstract

In the age of empire, a period marked by earth-shattering transformations, youth and cultural representations of it served dreams of ‘progress’ and liberation as well as systems of coercion, constraint and economic subjugation. This book examines the anxieties and aspirations surrounding youth in the decades between 1800 and 1920, a period marked by breakneck urbanization, the rise of mass culture, extraordinary scientific and technological advancements, and the dramatic expansion of empires. Surveying global trends in the light of local cases this volume reveals how a world becoming more connected produced new concepts of youth and reshaped experiences of it through migratory movements, labor markets, armies, systems of education, and medical surveillance. Drawing together contributions that range broadly and highlight diversity this volume surveys the cultural history of youth in relation to key issues such as gender and sexuality, war and leisure, education and work, authority and belief, in a period of dramatic political and economic change.