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Conference Presentations by Paula Read

Revue d'études américaines. American Studies Journal, 2022

“Blinded by the Sunbonnet: The Long Shadow of the Pioneer Myth on American Womanhood.” The presen... more “Blinded by the Sunbonnet: The Long Shadow of the Pioneer Myth on American Womanhood.” The presentation explored white womanhood in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and its impact on white feminists and activists. Paula Read presented the sunbonnet myth, the ideal pioneer woman on the frontier: a cheerful, civilized and civilizing woman, also known as the Madonna of the Prairies.
Read insisted on the fact that in the United States the myth was created retroactively and passed on though cultural contents such as stories, novels or TV series, for example the famous Little House on the Prairie, that shaped childhood memories across the territory. She then underlined the necessity of de-centering the history of white women pioneers and of expanding the vantage points, something that still needs to be done.

Papers by Paula Read

Transatlantica : Revue d'Études Américaines, Nov 12, 2022

and Christen Bryson (Sorbonne Nouvelle University) organized on May 19 th and 20 th a symposium o... more and Christen Bryson (Sorbonne Nouvelle University) organized on May 19 th and 20 th a symposium on womanhood(s) in the United States, that aimed at exploring the different ways in which feminine identities are built and experienced in the United States. The conference featured two keynote speeches that framed the event and shed light on highly debated issues surrounding womanhood: the Equal Rights Amendment and the history of women opposing the right to abortion. Throughout the event, panelists, keynote speakers and chairs discussed the construction of womanhood through discourses, practices and research. The diversity of presentations and perspectives that were expressed in the conference aimed at an exhaustive approach of the subject, and the number of presentations itself demonstrates the dynamism of women's studies. The common element that came back in many of the presentations that were given was that these were subjects that had been dismissed or overlooked by historians, sociologists or critics. This specific aspect emphasizes the need for events like the one organized by Christen Bryson, Anne Légier and Amélie Ribieras to multiply and contribute to a consolidation of the research field in France.

Revue d'études américaines. American Studies Journal, 2022

“Blinded by the Sunbonnet: The Long Shadow of the Pioneer Myth on American Womanhood.” The presen... more “Blinded by the Sunbonnet: The Long Shadow of the Pioneer Myth on American Womanhood.” The presentation explored white womanhood in the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and its impact on white feminists and activists. Paula Read presented the sunbonnet myth, the ideal pioneer woman on the frontier: a cheerful, civilized and civilizing woman, also known as the Madonna of the Prairies.
Read insisted on the fact that in the United States the myth was created retroactively and passed on though cultural contents such as stories, novels or TV series, for example the famous Little House on the Prairie, that shaped childhood memories across the territory. She then underlined the necessity of de-centering the history of white women pioneers and of expanding the vantage points, something that still needs to be done.

Transatlantica : Revue d'Études Américaines, Nov 12, 2022

and Christen Bryson (Sorbonne Nouvelle University) organized on May 19 th and 20 th a symposium o... more and Christen Bryson (Sorbonne Nouvelle University) organized on May 19 th and 20 th a symposium on womanhood(s) in the United States, that aimed at exploring the different ways in which feminine identities are built and experienced in the United States. The conference featured two keynote speeches that framed the event and shed light on highly debated issues surrounding womanhood: the Equal Rights Amendment and the history of women opposing the right to abortion. Throughout the event, panelists, keynote speakers and chairs discussed the construction of womanhood through discourses, practices and research. The diversity of presentations and perspectives that were expressed in the conference aimed at an exhaustive approach of the subject, and the number of presentations itself demonstrates the dynamism of women's studies. The common element that came back in many of the presentations that were given was that these were subjects that had been dismissed or overlooked by historians, sociologists or critics. This specific aspect emphasizes the need for events like the one organized by Christen Bryson, Anne Légier and Amélie Ribieras to multiply and contribute to a consolidation of the research field in France.