About‐Face
Gender, Disfigurement and the Politics of French Reconstruction, 1918–24
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12227209 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julie M Powell (0000-0001-9111-1934, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 604-622 |
| Publication date | 2016-10-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Gender & History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0953-5233 • E-ISSN: 1468-0424 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1468-0424.12241 |
| OpenAlex | W2554631470 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This article examines the role of facially wounded soldiers and prosthetic masks in the post‐First World War reconstruction of a gendered French nation. In contextualising the work of Anna Coleman Ladd, who sculpted facial prosthetics to ‘re‐humanise’ disfigured French veterans, I aim to shed light on larger post‐war tensions between the accommodation and rejection of social and cultural change. By submitting to Ladd's efforts and donning her devices, the French mutilés who sought her help articulated, through their bodies, a conservative vision for the French nation – highlighting the resonance of the traditional masculine ideal in post‐war France and a desire to reconstruct an idealised past. The exposure of the ‘surreal’ face, conversely, signalled the futility of a return to the status quo ante and the creation of the Union des Blessés de la face et de la tête allowed veterans to renegotiate the bounds of acceptable masculinity. Collectively, the facially wounded suggest the ways in which the face serves as a site of gender work, a means by which to challenge or reify masculine norms of behaviour and appearance
Aesthetics · Art · Disfigurement · Face (sociological concept · Masculinity · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Gender Studies · Historical Gender and Feminism Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · Law
| Citations per year | 0.27 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2024 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |