Civilization, Childhood, and Consumption in the First Bulgarian Journals For Children (1870s–1890s)

Abstract:In this article I will deal with the figures of “mother” and “child” in the imperative mode of Bulgarian discourse on education from the late nineteenth century, which focuses on care and preventing children from being spoiled. My primary sources are the first Bulgarian children’s journal Pchelitza (Little Bee) and the first Bulgarian women’s journals Ruzhitza (A Hollyhock), published in Constantinople in 1871, as well as several other journals from the period that predominantly tackle the questions of women and children’s education and social roles, such as Uchilishte (School, 1870–1876), Zornitza (Dawn, 1875–1878), and Zhenski svjat (Women’s World, 1893–1898). My hypothesis is that despite the visible change in the source of the instructive voice from a religious and communal authority to a medical one, the patriarchally driven anti-consumerist attitude towards upbringing remained the same. While the medicalization of instructive discourse usually discussed children’s upbringing by juxtaposing traditional conservative rituals to modern science-based ones, in both cases the main enemy is “fashion” and the main figure to blame is the mother. For Bulgarian women, such a perspective challenged their consumption patterns and decisions regarding the education and training of their children. Modern child-rearing literature implied that women had to be taught how to be good mothers. The journals from the period contained foreign translations and original texts, which warned readers of the lures of consumption and its vicious outcomes and called for mothers to maintain modesty and simplicity in regard to food, clothing, or toy playing.