You, Min; (2024) Origins and Developmental Phases of Early Female Education in East and Southeast Asia (1814-1856). Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

How did female education start in East Asia? How did Western pedagogical ideas influence East Asia? This thesis concerns the origins and developmental phases of early female education in East and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia and China.), 1814-1856. It seeks to reconstruct the early beginnings of education for girls in East Asia in the first half of the nineteenth century and the colonial influences of British developments in education for girls. Unlike previous studies, this work aims to articulate formative struggles and successes, when Europeans introduced female education in East Asia, modelled on their own systems. There are two approaches in this historical analysis: influence origins and developmental phases that demonstrate how female schooling arose in East and Southeast Asia earlier than previously appreciate. Building upon foundational influences and several pedagogical approaches - the British system and the Infant School system – European protestant missionaries fostered an interest in female education in Indonesia, Malaysia, and China. These systems were directly borrowed from Europe and adapted to an Asian pedagogical environment in several ways, including the implementation of a Roman-alphabetised vernacular rendering of the Chinese language. The early steps toward female education in East Asia were also directly influenced by the policies of colonial commercial interests and that influence would only increase in each subsequent phase, as interest in female education became more promoted in a colonial agenda. This thesis examines diverse original primary sources – personal letters, official reports, and meeting notes – in addition to published accounts. The first step in the analysis was to prepare a transcript of documents relating to female education. Digital enhancements were employed to discern passages that were severely damaged. The transcripts of handwritten documents are of general value for other researchers in the field. Charts and tables were compiled from archived meeting minutes to support thesis arguments with financial data. Three phases in the development of female education in East Asia are identified and articulated from primary sources: experimental phase, professionalizing phase, and institutionalizing phase. Each of these phases had its own origin and developmental trajectory. During this early period, there was a constant struggle for funding. In the final decade, a few British educators secured patronage networks to set the foundations for more permanent female education in East and Southeast Asia, thus establishing a more permanent legacy for female education in the region.

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