Nature Nurture: Edinburgh’s Childgarden Heritage, Cultures of Care, and Scottish Women’s Writing

About the event

This half-day symposium grows out of the ‘Nurture through Nature with Children’s Books’ exhibition, created by Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood (Museums & Galleries Edinburgh) in partnership with SELCIE [Scotland’s Early Literature for Children Research Initiative] at the University of Edinburgh.

This event explores the connection between children’s books, nature, and well-being, exploring how literature can nurture young readers’ creativity and learning, wonder and curiosity, all in relation to the natural world. Reflecting the different yet intertwined threads of the exhibition, this symposium is designed to appeal to scholars of Scottish and children’s literature, literature and environmental humanities, as well as a general public audience interested in the city’s cultural and green heritage.

The keynote lecture by the architectural historian, Dr Elizabeth Darling, places the early 20th century Edinburgh kindergarten movement (founded by women) at the heart of the symposium’s exploration of the relationship between care, culture, and female agency in late 19th and early 20th century Scotland.

Talks in the first half of the afternoon are dedicated to the kindergarten movement and women’s pioneering role in social reform, education, and child welfare through the use of green space, and the inheritance of Froebelian principles that championed the idea of learning through nature.

The second half of the afternoon widens the focus to explore the theme of nature-nurture in Scottish literature, with talks on nature writing for children, and on the idea and practice of care in women’s writing of the period.

There will also be an introduction to the ‘Nurture through Nature with Children’s Books’ exhibition, and the children’s book collection of Edinburgh’s Museum of Childhood which inspired it.

The speakers featured at this event will be:

• Elizabeth Darling (Freelance Architectural Historian)
• Jane Whinnett (Froebel Trust)
• Lyn Stevens (Edinburgh Museum of Childhood)
• Lois Burke (Tilburg University)
• Ainsley MacIntosh (University of Glasgow)

How to attend

This event is open to all, and free to attend. Free tickets are available to reserve on Eventbrite.

Are you interested in a PhD in English Literature?

We offer two PhDs: one in English Literature; and one in Creative Writing. Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in all periods and genres of literature and literary analysis. Working with colleagues elsewhere in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) and across the wider University of Edinburgh, we are also able to support research which crosses further boundaries between disciplines and/or languages.