Convents as Transnational Education Spaces in the Long Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This article draws on primary source materials to discuss the transnational spaces of nineteenth-century convent schools, which were founded and built by religious women (nuns). The article argues that it is necessary to study the teaching Sisters and their convent schools in order to glean insight into the transnational mobility of the teaching Sisters, and the exchange of ideas between women in education spaces. Equally, gendered readings of the convent as an education space are needed. This article attempts to contribute towards starting a discussion around the nineteenth-century convent school as a transnational female education space, which was defined and delineated by both external and internal forces.