RHN 76/2026 | Publication
Laurent Brassart, Martino Lorenzo Fagnani, Luciano Maffi, Omar Mazzotti (eds), Demeter in the Classrooms. Agricultural Education for Children, Eighteenth-Twentieth Centuries, Rural History in Europe 20, Brepols, 2026.
Agricultural education for children has played a key role in shaping the younger generation, connecting school, agriculture and nature. This volume explores the topic at the European level, analysing the role of institutions, state policies and pedagogical models in modelling the teaching of agriculture to children from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Through an interdisciplinary approach that weaves together the history of education, rural history and the history of science, the authors display how the teaching of agricultural practices contributed to the economic and social development of different European realities. The book brings together contributions spanning from France to Italy, from the United Kingdom to Spain, from Sweden to Hungary and Romania, among other cases, providing a comparative picture of the different national experiences. The pages address crucial issues such as the training of primary school teachers, the use of school gardens, the transmission of agricultural knowledge in textbooks, the circulation of pedagogical ideas and models of teaching spaces. The studies gathered in this volume are essential for understanding the evolution of socio-environmental relationships in Europe from childhood and early youth, crucial moments in the formation of the individual.