Theses Doctoral

Living Memory: Nostalgia and Evangelical Girlhood from the Cold War to the Present

Hedgecock, Sarah

From the beginnings of so-called neo-evangelicalism in the 1940s, white American evangelicals have looked to the past—the biblical past, an idealized past Christian America, the eternal past of childhood—as a model for how to be. This dissertation argues for the centrality of relationality and nostalgia to white American evangelicalism, and furthermore claims that girlhood is an ideal place to see them. Nostalgia is an affective practice, and here it comes out as a bringing back of certain (alleged) practices from the past to teach children to create a better future. Nostalgia thus works as an engine for relationality, binding a community through a shared affective practice, and for the transmission of evangelicalism to its next generation. Through examination of archival materials, social media, and interviews with current evangelical girls, this work traces the ways nostalgia, and in particular a pedagogy of nostalgia, has been employed throughout the recent history of this religious tradition. By portraying how organizations and campaigns like Young Life, the Pioneer Girls, Christian summer camp, and True Love Waits employed nostalgia to educate girls in their care, as well as the nostalgic-pedagogical uses of social media in the present. This work also shows that the meaning of girlhood in evangelicalism has shifted over the decades, from a discrete gendered and aged experience to a preparation period for Christian womanhood to an expansive category incorporating any young woman who has not yet married. Interviews with current evangelical girls shine light on how—or even whether—these shifting meanings have been incorporated into girls’ own identities.

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More About This Work

Academic Units
Religion
Thesis Advisors
Bender, Courtney
Degree
Ph.D., Columbia University
Published Here
October 25, 2024