Voicing Children in 18th Century Nordic Hallensian Orphanages (VOICE)
Voicing Children in 18th Century Nordic Hallensian Orphanages (VOICE)
Name of applicant
Sigrid Nielsby Christensen
Title
Teaching Assistant
Institution
University of Oslo
Amount
DKK 2,732,902
Year
2026
Type of grant
Internationalisation Fellowships
What?
VOICE explores unresearched 18th century Nordic cross-border religious networks among orphanages, the overlooked interactions between state authorities and private actors, and the ways in which institutional practices shaped children’s religious formation and everyday worlds.
Why?
The project fills a significant gap in research by bringing Nordic orphanages and their childcare into both social and church history, integrating perspectives from these two fields and challenging state centered narratives. VOICE restores orphans’ long-silenced perspectives and shows how their experiences add new historical perspectives on current debates on children’s rights and representation.
How?
The project draws on a unique set of handwritten archives in Gothic script. It combines bottom-up microhistory with digital humanities, turning the manuscripts into searchable material. This method makes it possible to recover and analyze children’s voices and perspectives directly from the sources.