Book review

Citation

(2021), "Book review", History of Education Review, Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 311-312. https://doi.org/10.1108/HER-10-2021-091

Women’s education in Southern Europe. Historical Perspectives (19th-20th centuries). Volume IV

Edited by Antonella Cagnolati and Antonio Fco. Canales Serrano

Aracne

2020

382 pp.

ISBN: 978-88-255-3479-5

Review DOI

This volume of Women's Education in Southern Europe is the follow-up of the three previous ones all edited by Antonella Cagnolati and Antonio Fco. Canales Serrano. Once again, they bring together contributions from different European researchers who are dedicated to the thematic line of history of education with a gender perspective. Thus, this volume aims to bring to light the history of women's struggle throughout the 20th century, to recover the memory of women and their contributions to history while highlighting the history of the countries of southern Europe, a place that has been systematically considered as inferior. It has interventions in three languages: English, Italian and Spanish. With the introduction Drawing back the veil and rescuing from shadows the editors introduce the book and highlight the justification and relevance of the investigations that comprise it.

The second chapter Educazione ed emancipazione: Flora Randegger, una maestra ebrea triestina a Gerusalemme (1856–1866) by Mattia Di Taranto revolves around the figure of a teacher and translator from Trieste (Italy) who travelled to Jerusalem and attempted to create a modern school for Jewish women in Palestine. The author recovers the figure of Flora Randegger through her biography, a work that shows her desire to contribute to education and to bring her culture – the Italian and Central European culture – to Jerusalem.

In the third chapter, Antonella Cagnolati recovers the life story of another woman in the chapter Caterina Franceschi Ferrucci (1803–1887): pedagogia e amor di patria. Ricognizione bibliografica e antologia di scritti. Caterina was an Italian educator, writer, poet and pioneer that dedicated herself to the education of women in her century. The author contributes a series of works and editions of Ferrucci that show the validity of her pedagogical positions.

Educazione come forma di emancipazione delle dona tra XIX e XX secolo: il ruolo di Ornella (1887–1940) is the chapter written by Gabriella Armenise. In this chapter, the author exposes the teacher and school inspector Oronzina Tanzarella, who played a role in women’s emancipation in southern Europe through education. Tanzarella could not make it to overcome the ideological limitations of her time, but she did confer women some sort of politico-cultural dignity.

In Ženske gredo! Views on girls' education in Slovenia between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, Branko Šuštar, the author, takes a journey through the history of Slovenian education, delving more specifically into the education of women throughout its history, from the education of girls with nuns and private teachers to coeducation and equal access to higher education.

Teresa Rabazas Romero and Carlos Sanz Simón write Despertando la vocación docente en las niñas del franquismo. La literatura infantil femenina de Josefina Álvarez de Cánovas (1898–1963). In this chapter, the authors present books as educational elements but also as tools that allow indoctrination in the 20th century. In this case, they show how, through the output of Josefina Álvarez de Cánovas and the Mari Sol novels, not only the values of the regime were transmitted, but also the value of studying and pursuing a female profession.

On the other hand, Miriam Sonlleva Velasco introduces Construcción de la identidad femenina en la clase popular franquista a través de testimonios orales. The author, in this chapter, vindicates the role of popular women in history and the need to recover their voices through oral testimonies within the framework of the historical-educational methodology. Thus, it presents Felisa and Paula, two working-class women who lived through the Franco regime and whose identities were marked by its values.

Viaggio attraveso l'utopia: Giovanna Caleffi e Maria Luisa Berneri is the name given to the chapter written by Vicenzo Cignarale. The author reveals two people, a mother and daughter, who questioned the order and committed to anarchism. After the war, Giovanna went into exile where she fought for the right of women to be fully in control of their motherhood. Maria Luisa challenged British society, but she died young, at the age of 31.

In the ninth chapter, Sara Ramos Zamora presents Tardofranquismo y desarrollo comunitario de la Sección Femenina. In this chapter, the author explains the role of the Women's Section during the Franco regime in Spain in teaching rural women about agricultural issues. She also inquiries about training in the marginal neighbourhoods of the city of Madrid that underwent rapid growth during those years and had its own educational needs.

Finally, Yasmina Álvarez González advances the chapter Mujer y Pedagogía. La presencia femenina en el Instituto San José de Calasanz de Pedagogía a principios de los años cincuenta. The San José de Calasanz Institute of Pedagogy was an institution created during the Franco regime to refound Spanish pedagogy after the purge of teachers by the regime. This chapter recovers the biography of the eight women who participated in this educational project.

I believe that this is a book that fulfils its objective since it brings the reader closer to the forgotten or silenced issues of the history of women. This is not a book that chronologically presents the history of these countries, but it does expose the context in which they are framed and presents what could be a first approach to their educational history. In any case, it achieves a fundamental and still pending objective, as the editors also agree and vindicate, which is to value not only the contributions of women, but also to recover the life stories of all the forgotten and silenced women.

Ainhoa Resa Ocio

Faculty of Education, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain