Nüshu: a curriculum of women’s identity

Abstract

This paper looks at the curricular functions of nüshu, a phonetic script invented by women in Jiangyong County, Hunan Province, China, and a set of social practices that went with it. Largely barred from learning to read and write Chinese script, the women of Jiangyong County taught nüshu to each other, passing the knowledge from generation to generation. Scholars have examined nüshu from the perspectives of anthropology, linguistics, literature, literacy, and women’s studies. This paper examines nüshu from the perspective of curriculum theory. Nüshu, after all, was an educational practice: a group of women who made themselves literate and transmitted this literacy across generations. This paper focuses on autobiographical ballads, one genre of writings within the nüshu corpus. These autobiographical narratives present, in what they say and do not say, certain portraits of women’s lives. Using narrative analysis, this paper reveals how nüshu texts and practices together form a curriculum shaping the way in which these women could present their identities.