Childhood, Ahead of Print.
This article axplores children’s welfare in Italy’s northeastern borderlands after WWI. Using the case of a semi-public aid association “Assistenza all’Italia Redenta” (Assistance to Redeemed Italy), the author examines children’s welfare before and after the installation of the fascist regime. She focuses in particular on preschools as a vital source of sociomedical and educational assistance to children in this mutlilingual and multiethnic region. But this assistance came with a quid pro quo, for children recieved it on condition that they learn the Italian language. The article thus explores how social welfare may be instrumentalized for nationalist purposes in borderland regions marked by cultural and national diversity.