Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction, and Performance

Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction, and Performance features essays which examine how in the wake of both humanist and religious reform, early modern educational theories and practices intersect with and construct ideas about gender, class, and national identity. The wealth of printed and manuscript documents devoted to pedagogy (including educational tracts, parenting guides, conduct books, domestic manuals, catechisms, diaries, and autobiographical writings) compellingly represent, rehearse, imagine, and interrogate educational practices. These texts foster opportunities for examining gendered and hierarchical structures, particularly the construction of masculinity and femininity. The pedagogical practices applied by paternal and maternal teachers (or by their substitutes such as tutors, schoolmasters, or ministers), those promoted in print, and those featured on stage reveal some of the complex tensions and ideologies underlying gender in the period. Contributors investigate how education was performed and performative, both on stage and off, focusing on how models of childhood (particularly girls') educability were applied in domestic, religious, and academic venues, and how plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries used and transformed them in theatrical settings.