I initially explored historic figures of European accoucheur of the 17. and 18. century. Beyond this I focused on a period called "Pobělohorská" in Czech countries. I summarized the health conditions of the population during this period, and described medical professions, midwifery and emergency Christening ceremonies. One chapter discusses partnerships and considers women who hid their pregnancy to avoid the prospect of caring for their children in the future. For this reason I present questions relating to how women hid their pregnancy during the Early Modern period. In the next chapter I discuss aspects of the process of giving birth, the locations where women gave birth and the moments thereafter. I present the circumstances of the death of the baby and the possible causes of death. The process of investigation of the scene, an assessment of the body and the search for the mother of the baby (as a potential murderer) are all considered. The assessment of the body was in the hands of the regional physiciusurgeon and a midwife. In my work I describe how the body was assessed, how they judged the maturity of the newborn baby and if the baby was born dead or alive. Further chapters explain the treatment of the umbilical cord, the inquisition of the witnesses and the suspect, and the next steps of...

Subject of the presented paper is press image of murderous mothers in Czech press of the 2nd half of the 19th century through early 20th century. Industrial revolution contributed to several changes in central European society, for example higher mobility of the population, including young unmarried women, who hereby became separated from their relatives. There is a fear of moral corruption in the society, a fear related to unrestricted sexuality and extramarital pregnancy, which could lead to the murder of the unwanted child. Contemporary press largely contributed to form a stereotypical image of murderous mothers. Press articles also served as moral stories, which could normatively influnce the readers.

This dissertation examines the intersection of the prosecution of criminal justice, sexual morality and the family at the parlement of Paris, which was the highest court of appeal in France, during the height of its power and influence in the kingdom from 1564-1655. This dissertation argues that in its adjudication of the crimes of seduction, infanticide, adultery, and bigamy the parlement of Paris interpreted the law according to a paternal theory of state by prioritizing family integrity and patriarchal honour in its decisions. In so doing, it presents a unique synthesis of statute and published legal opinion with a systematic survey of judicial decisions, based on archival findings, relating to these sex crimes in early modern France. It concludes that these judicial decisions were ensconced in the concepts of family, the king’s justice, and sovereignty, which were foundational to the interconnected theories of state and society in early modern France. The parlement tended to separate elite and modest appellants according to the socio-economic priorities of lignage and ménage, or the protection of the integrity of elite lineages and the stability of artisanal households within broader networks of family and community. Ultimately, this study exposes the expectations and values that gendered authority placed on men and women in early modern French society, reveals the ways that the most powerful judges in France interpreted the law according to these values, and unveils the narratives that women and men crafted when they confronted these expectations before these powerful judges. In so doing, this dissertation sheds new light on the relationships between gender and the law, gender relations in state and society, and the lived experience of marriage in early modern France. / Graduate / 2022-08-09

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Barnamordsplakatet (a Infanticide Proclamation) of 1778 was a circular allowing unmarried mothers to give birth at an undisclosed location without giving up the name of the father. The proclamation was supposed to ease the situation for the unwed mother in Sweden. The aim was to investigate whether women in Assembly of Hällefors, far from government and close to remote forest Finnskogen, was affected by the Infanticide Proclamation, between 1771 and 1830. Case studies has been done on people who had illegitimate children, if they were convicted, what the crime was and what the punishment was. The investigation is made at a local level and compared against national analyzes on the same theme. A lot of illegitimate children were born in Grythyttan nearby and slightly less in Hällefors, compared to other places of Sweden. Mothers and fathers were convicted in the district court for crimes, including, sexual intercourse between unmarried persons. More women than men were convicted. The cases in court with convicted for the second time, was culminating between 1800 and 1810. Infanticide Proclamation is immediately adapted in court. People's behavior changed before the law took effect when the amount of born illegitimate children outnumbered the amount of convicted mothers.

Ce mémoire étudie les modalités du traitement communautaire et judiciaire de l’infanticide en Nouvelle-France. Nous utilisons diverses sources textuelles et démographiques, notamment les dix procès pour infanticide ayant eu lieu dans la colonie sous l’Ancien Régime. Les dynamiques entre les accusées, les membres de leur communauté et les magistrats lors des procès révèlent l’existence de rapports de force et de solidarités propres aux collectivités de l’époque moderne. Nous nous questionnons ainsi sur les rôles joués par la communauté dans le jugement des femmes soupçonnées d’infanticide. Comment les femmes et les hommes de la Nouvelle-France conceptualisent-ils cet acte ? Quels facteurs mènent la communauté à judiciariser l’infanticide ? Nous interrogeons aussi les motivations des magistrats. Quels buts recherchent-ils ? Quelle sévérité démontrent-ils envers les femmes accusées ? Nous soulevons également la résistance que pouvaient opposer les accusées à ces forces. Quelle influence ont les accusées sur les procès menés et les sentences rendues contre elles ? Quelles stratégies peuvent-elles élaborer et exécuter en leur propre défense ? L’analyse du rôle des témoins tout au long de la procédure illustre la participation primordiale de la communauté au traitement de l’infanticide ainsi que les normes de genre et de classe imposées aux accusées par leurs contemporains (chapitre 2). L’étude des stratégies des accusées et du choix des peines révèle à la fois le poids de l’ordre social et marital renforcé par l’institution judiciaire et l’agentivité dont faisaient preuve les femmes de la Nouvelle-France (chapitre 3). / This thesis studies the ways in which infanticide was handled by communities and by the judicial system in New France. It draws on multiple textual and demographic sources, most notably the ten criminal trials for infanticide that occurred in the colony during the Old Regime. The dynamics between the accused, the members of their community and the magistrates during the trials reveal the existence of relations of power and solidarities that characterized collectivities in the early modern period. I therefore examine the roles played by the community in the prosecution of women suspected of infanticide. How did the women and men of New France conceptualize the act? What factors led the community to judicialize infanticide? I also examine the magistrates’ motivations. What goals did they have? What severity did they demonstrate toward accused women? Further, the thesis addresses the resistance that women could exert against these forces. What influence did the accused have on the course of the trials and the sentences pronounced against them? What strategies could they devise and execute in their own defence? Analyzing the role that witnesses played throughout the process illustrates the fundamental participation of the community in the treatment of infanticide as well as the gender and class norms imposed on the accused by their contemporaries (chapter 2). The study of the accused’s strategies and the sentences handed down against them reveals both the weight of the social and marital order reinforced by the judicial institution and the agency shown by the women of New France (chapter 3).

Toni Morrison reinterprets and reconstitutes American history by placing the lives, stories and experiences of African Americans in a position of centrality, while relegating white American history and cultural traditions to the margins of her narratives. She rewrites American history from an alternative - African American woman's - perspective, and subverts the accepted racist and patriarchally inspired `truths' about life, love and women's experiences through her sympathetic depiction of murderous mother love and complex female relationships in Beloved. She writes about oppression, pain and suffering, and of the need for the acknowledgement and alleviation of the various forms of oppression that scar human existence. Morrison's engagement with healing in Beloved forms the central focus of this short dissertation. The novel is analysed in relation to Mary Douglas's `Two Bodies' theory, John Caputo's ideas on progressive Foucaultian hermeneutics and healing gestures, and Julia Martin's thoughts on alternative healing practices based on non-dualism and interconnectedness. Within this interdisciplinary context, Beloved is read as a `small start' to `creative engagement' with alternative healing practices (Martin, 1996:104). / English / M.A. (English)

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A self-educated shepherd, Scottish writer James Hogg (1770-1835) spoke from a position outside the dominant discourse, depicting issues of his age related to gender, class, and ethnicity by giving voice to people from the margins and, thus (either consciously or unconsciously), revealing gender politics and Britain's imperial aims. Hogg’s contemporary critics received his work rather negatively, viewing his subjects such as prostitution, out-of-wedlock-pregnancy, infanticide, and the violence of war as violating the principles of literary politeness. Hogg’s obstinacy in addressing these issues, however, supports the thesis that his aim was far more significant than challenging the expectations of his contemporary readers. This project shows that pragmatics can be applied productively to literature because its eclecticism offers the possibility of developing a detailed discussion about three aspects of literary communication—the author, the reader and the text—without prioritising any of them. Literature is an instance of language in use (the field of pragmatics) where an author creates the texts and a reader recreates the author’s message through the text. Analysis of Hogg’s flouting of Grice’s maxims for communication strategies and of his defying the principles of politeness enables a theoretically supported discussion about Hogg’s possible intentions, as well as about how his intentions were perceived by the literary establishment of his time; while both relevance theory and Bakhtin’s socio-linguistics enriched by a historically contextualised politeness shed new light on the negative reception of Hogg’s texts.