1. Objectifs

Intentions :
Dans cet article, l’auteur fait une rétrospective des différents écrits portant sur la paternité en Amérique du Nord, en mettant l’accent sur le cas du Québec.

Questions/Hypothèses :
«How did paternal roles and experiences change in Quebec in the decades from the turn of the twentieth century to the Quiet Revolution? What did it mean to be a father in the “distinct society”? And how did that meaning shift in the six decades between 1900 and 1960? These are the questions that drive the larger project from which this essay is drawn. They are based on the hypothesis—indeed, the conviction—that masculine roles and identities, including fatherhood, adapted over time to the changing social, economic, cultural, and political realities of the twentieth century, in Quebec as elsewhere in North America.» (p. 49)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Données documentaires diverses

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

«From a historiographical perspective, moreover, the border has certainly proven itself permeable (and happily so) to international trends in gender history, masculinity studies, and the history of fatherhood. Quebec historians have not necessarily taken the lead in this respect, but there are signs that interest is growing at the present moment.» (p. 61) «Quebec masculinities, paternal and otherwise, need to be assessed critically, within a framework that is sensitive to patriarchy, to women’s oppression, and to both liberal and illiberal discourses and practices. So as it progresses, I hope this work will not be read as part of a recovery effort or as being inflected with a discourse of loss. I make no claim, in other words, to speak au nom du père. I see these parallel lines of inquiry, rather, as so many opportunities to situate Quebec masculinities in their North American and historical contexts, both historically and historiographically. To do this, we must be attentive to the very real tensions between “national” specificity and Américanité, between Catholic traditions and secular modernity, and indeed between Québécois and English-Canadian understandings of the rights, responsibilities, obligations, and duties of twentieth-century fathers.» (p. 62-63)