Encounters with wild children : temptation and disappointment in the history of the study of human nature

Examines the history of the scientific fascination with stories of wild children. This book argues that wild children have had a privileged role as objects of knowledge in Western human science, and shows how they have been made inseparable from any attempt to define the human, and to delineate the boundaries between human and non-human. Since The Early Seventeenth Century, Stories Of Encounters With Strange Children In Unusual Circumstances Have Been Recorded, Circulated, And Reproduced In Europe And North America Not Simply As Myths, Legends, Or Good Tabloid Copy But As Occurrences Deserving Serious Scrutiny By Philosophers And Scientists. Wild Children Were Seen As Privileged Objects Of Knowledge, Believed To Hold Answers To Fundamental Questions About The Boundaries Of The Human, The Character And Significance Of Civilization, And The Relation Between Nature And Culture, Heredity And Environment. Through Detailed Readings Of A Wide Variety Of Accounts, Debates, And Representations, Encounters With Wild Children Explores The Many Different Meanings These Children Were Given And The Varied Responses They Elicited. Adriana Benzaquen Explains Why Wild Children Continue To Haunt And Fascinate Western Scientists And Shows How The Knowledge They Have Generated In Different Disciplines, Including Anthropology, Psychology, Psychiatry, Pedagogy, Linguistics, And Sociology, Has Contributed To The Shaping And Reshaping Of The Modern Understanding Of The Child And Affected The Social And Institutional Practices Directed At All Children In Schools, Welfare, Mental Health, And The Law.--jacket. The Accounts -- The List, The Class, The Story-form -- Peter Of Hanover And The Wild Girl Of Songi -- The Debates -- The Wild Boy Of Aveyron -- Victor's Afterlife -- Wolf Children -- Confinement And Freedom. Adriana S. Benzaquén. Includes Index. Includes Bibliographical References: P. [349]-380. Through detailed readings of a wide variety of accounts, debates, and representations, Encounters with Wild Children explores the many different meanings these children were given and the varied responses they elicited. Adriana Benzaquén explains why wild children continue to haunt and fascinate Western scientists and shows how the knowledge they have generated in different disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, psychiatry, pedagogy, linguistics, and sociology, has contributed to the shaping and reshaping of the modern understanding of'the child'and affected the social and institutional practices directed at all children in schools, welfare, mental health, and the law.