Élise Detellier

Élise Detellier,“Bonifier le capital humain” : le genre dans le discours médical et religieux sur les sports au Québec, 1920-1950. Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, vol. 62, nos 3-4, 2009, p. 473-499.

In the best traditions of gender history, Elise Detellier’s article draws together a range of themes including gender, language, sexuality and ideas of nation. Her article explains how the connection between moral and physical health for men and women were constructed in relation to each other and yet produced different opportunities for their participation in sport. One of the critical insights this piece offers is an explanation for why women’s sports remained underdeveloped by the post-war period in Quebec. The author is to be commended for drawing on an expansive historiographical tradition, including the international literature on sports as well as French and English scholarship in Canada.