Pour une révision du « mâle » Moyen Âge de Georges Duby (États-Unis)

Les conceptions de Georges Duby ont eu un profond impact sur la manière dont les médiévistes en Amérique considèrent le Moyen Âge. Son héritage est sans doute le plus net en ce qui concerne l’étude des femmes dans cette période. G. Duby a défini l’expérience féminine comme marquée par la répression et l’absence de pouvoir. De fait, il a défini la période médiévale comme le « mâle » Moyen Âge. Nombre de chercheurs américains ne s’accordent pas avec la description des femmes qu’il a présentée. Leur examen des documents de la pratique, telles les chartes, les a menés à dresser un tableau très différent de l’expérience féminine. Là où G. Duby et ses disciples décèlent domination masculine et répression, ces chercheurs ont découvert que les femmes exerçaient pouvoir et influence, étaient des membres respectés de la société où elles vivaient et apparaissaient dans tous les aspects de la vie médiévale.The vision of Georges Duby has had a profound impact upon how American medievalists view the middle ages. His legacy is perhaps felt most acutely in the study of medieval women. Duby characterized the experience of medieval women as one of repression and powerlessness. Indeed, he considered the medieval period to be the « male » middle ages. Many American scholars have become dissatisfied with Duby’s description of women. Through examination of documents of practice, such as charters, American medievalists have created a very different picture of women’s experience. Where Duby and his followers detected male dominance and repression, these scholars have discovered women of power and influence, who were respected members of their society, and included in all aspects of medieval life

'You will dwell with barbarous and uneducated men': Countess Ermengarde and Political Culture in Twelfth-Century Brittany

The accepted narrative for medieval Breton political history emphasises a lack of centralised authority which resulted in political volatility. Like all accepted narratives, this one needs re-interrogation. Recent scholarship has expanded 'political culture' to recognise the contributions of ministers, advisers, family and others, Analysis of the political actions and contributions of Countess Ermengarde (c.1070-1147, r. 1093-1147) will provide an opportunity to reconsider twelfth-century Breton political culture. Another feature of the historiography of medieval political power is that it was only exercised by men or those who were gendered male. I will argue, however, that Ermengarde remained very much a female and that her gender, in fact, gave her power and influence that she could command in the political realm not available to her husband or son. In particular, Ermengarde was skilled in creating and cultivating relationships with powerful people and important ecclesiastical institutions of the Loire valley. Her talents and connections contributed significantly both to the stability of Brittany, but also its political culture

Pious Women in a ‘Den of Scorpions:’ The Piety and Patronage of the Countesses of Brittany, c. 1050-1150

Chroniclers observing the complex politics of medieval Brittany referred to it as a “den of scorpions.” Eleventh- and early twelfth-century Brittany was politically unstable, with comital power under threat from both local lords and ambitious neighbors. The counts of Brittany depended upon their wives to bolster relationships with other regional powers, including the church, and to create alliances. These women brought with them relationships, ties, and associations to many powerful ecclesiastical foundations. This article examines the experiences of Countess Havoise (r. 1008–1034), Countess Bertha of Blois (c. 1020–1100), Countess Bertha (d. 1085), wife of Geoffrey Grenonat, and Countess Constance (r. 1076–1090), who all used ecclesiastical patronage to solidify the power of husbands and sons. This support allowed women to develop relationships with medieval clerics, making them, like Queen Esther, ideally placed to intervene and negotiate when tensions arose between the counts and the church

Social media and adolescent well-being in the Global South

Despite the rapid proliferation of digital technologies in the Global South, most academic research on social media and adolescent well-being has primarily focused on the Global North. This review investigates how social media impacts adolescent well-being in the Global South. We first review five regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East & North Africa, Latin America, China and South & South-East Asia) to highlight the complex ways social media interacts with well-being around the world. We then outline research gaps in the current understanding of the impacts of social media use on adolescent populations in diverse cultural contexts. We finally highlight potential lines of inquiry that future researchers could explore to build a nuanced, contextual perspective of the risks and opportunities of social media use

How much is too much? Examining the relationship between digital screen engagement and psychosocial functioning in a confirmatory cohort study

Objective Previous studies have offered mixed results regarding the link between digital screen engagement and the psychosocial functioning of young people. In this study, we aimed to determine the magnitude of this relation, to inform the discussion regarding whether amount of digital screen time has a subjectively significant impact on the psychosocial functioning of children and adolescents. Method We analyzed data from primary caregivers participating in the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), an annual nationally representative survey fielded by the US Census Bureau between June 2016 and February 2017. NSCH uses an address-based sampling frame and both Web- and paper-based data collection instruments to measure psychosocial functioning and digital engagement, including a modified version of the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire and caregiver estimates of daily television- and device-based engagement, respectively. Results The expected parabolic inverted-U-shaped relationship linking digital screen engagement to psychosocial functioning was found. These results replicated past findings suggesting that moderate levels of screen time (1-2 hours a day) were associated with slightly higher levels of psychosocial functioning compared to lower or higher levels of engagement. Furthermore, it indicated that children and adolescents would require 4 hours 40 minutes of television-based engagement and 5 hours 8 minutes of daily device-based engagement before caregivers would be able to notice subjectively significant variations in psychosocial functioning. Conclusion The possible influence of digital screen engagement is likely smaller and more nuanced than we might expect. These findings do not rule out the possibility that parents might only notice very high levels of screen time when their child manifests pronounced psychosocial difficulties. Future work should be guided by transparent and confirmatory programs of research