In recent years geographical concepts and the geography lexicon have been used in different disciplines to explore the diffusion and circulation of ideas and it is increasingly commonplace for academics to speak of a "geography of knowledge". Little systematic work has been undertaken by historians of education using spatialised…

This introductory article provides the conceptual framework to integrate the following international contributions and their various historical, regional, institutional and cultural contexts. It does so by focusing mainly on three aspects: (1) Childhood and youth as social constructs, the varying classifications of these life phases, their…

This article reads two late nineteenth century short stories--one by Guy de Maupassant and the other by Louisa May Alcott--through the interpretive framework of Critical Disability Studies. It contrasts the traditional view of disability as a deficit or pathology that befalls certain unfortunate individuals with a newer one that understands it…

In the first half of nineteenth-century Europe, the founding fathers of the philanthropic network developed a specific network for the care of children at risk. This network eventually resulted in institutionalized solutions for the care of these children. In this article, three topics are looked at: the meaning of the general concept of networks…