Women and Political Insurgency : France in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

`A lucid and wide-ranging survey of the changing role of women in insurgent movements in nineteenth-century France that will be invaluable for those interested in both women's studies and French history'- Pamela M. Pilbeam, Royal Holloway, University of London. This book provides a broad survey of the development of female insurgency in France between 1789 and 1871, and lays particular emphasis on the conflicts of 1830-51. Drawing on unused archival material, Barry demonstrates that a tradition of women's protest evolved from the 1789 Revolution, assuming particular forms associated with the exclusion of females from political and civil rights, and inviting both praise and vilification. The conclusions challenge the view that in nineteenth-century France women retreated altogether from popular movements. "Recent studies of French women as revolutionary rebels have focused on the Revolutions of 1789 and 1871. This book provides a wide-ranging survey of female insurgency in France from 1789 to 1871, with a particular focus on Paris and the period between 1830 and 1851. Drawing on unused archival material and primary printed sources the author demonstrates that women remained active in public disturbances although their presence in traditional subsistence riots declined. Though they were most involved in conflicts where economic issues predominated, their protest came to be accompanied by politicization and its symbols. The links between contemporary feminism and insurgency are explored, as well as the development of a masculine critique of both praise and vilification. The conclusions challenge the view that in the nineteenth century women retreated from popular movements, suggesting that, debarred as they were from exercising national sovereignty, they evolved their own means of public expression."--Jacket Front Matter....Pages i-xii The Legacy of the 1789 Revolution: Defining the Issues....Pages 1-22 The Revolution of 1830 and the July Monarchy: the Heroines of Liberty....Pages 23-34 The February Revolution of 1848 and its Aftermath: the Call for the ‘Democratic and Social Republic’....Pages 35-46 Defending Livelihoods and Neighbourhoods: the June Days of 1848....Pages 47-76 The Red Republican Interlude, 1849–51....Pages 77-84 The Rebellion of December 1851: the Death Throes of the Red Republican Cause....Pages 85-104 The Commune of 1871: the Great Venture in Female Citizenship....Pages 105-154 Conclusion....Pages 155-163 Back Matter....Pages 164-213