‘Dear Aunty Eleanor’ : Eleanor Roosevelt, Anna Freud and the politics of emotion in letters by children in war
Journal article
Damousi, Joy. (2023). ‘Dear Aunty Eleanor’ : Eleanor Roosevelt, Anna Freud and the politics of emotion in letters by children in war. Social History. 48(3), pp. 338-362. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071022.2023.2213949
Authors | Damousi, Joy |
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Abstract | In this article I argue that the actual and imaginary presence of America looms large in the letters written to Eleanor Roosevelt by refugee children whom she sponsored through the organisation Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children (Plan). In doing so, I historicise the politics of emotion in war by examining how the concept of ‘America’ provided a positive haven for refugee children who constructed an imaginary ‘America’ – a place of security and peace – through which they discussed the fragmentation of their lives. When considering the visceral aspects of wartime experience, however, not all children found comfort in the ‘American’ imaginary. The letters of children such as eight-year-old Rosemary Hayward – who was also observed by psychoanalysts Anna Freud and Dorothy Burlingham – reveal an emotional fragility towards this notion of ‘America’. The comfort and plenty of ‘America’ was not easily appropriated by Hayward as the way in which she experienced family dislocation became pronounced. While the emotional security of the concept of ‘America’ became the cornerstone of correspondence between financial foster parents and the refugee child, it served to consolidate this exchange and the politics within it, leaving the scars of family disruption and violence in war painfully unresolved. |
Keywords | Children; war; emotions; evacuation; humanitarianism; family |
Year | 01 Jan 2023 |
Journal | Social History |
Journal citation | 48 (3), pp. 338-362 |
Publisher | Routledge |
ISSN | 0307-1022 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/03071022.2023.2213949 |
Web address (URL) | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03071022.2023.2213949 |
Open access | Published as non-open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Page range | 338-362 |
Publisher's version | License All rights reserved File Access Level Controlled |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
23 Jun 2023 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 06 Aug 2024 |
ARC Funded Research | This output has been funded, wholly or partially, under the Australian Research Council Act 2001 |
Grant ID | 140100049 |
Additional information | © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group |
Place of publication | United Kingdom |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90w1z/-dear-aunty-eleanor-eleanor-roosevelt-anna-freud-and-the-politics-of-emotion-in-letters-by-children-in-war
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