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Ethnic conflict

An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group's position within society. This criterion differentiates ethnic conflict from other forms of struggle.

Academic explanations of ethnic conflict generally fall into one of three schools of thought: primordialist, instrumentalist or constructivist. Recently, some have argued for either top-down or bottom-up explanations for ethnic conflict. Intellectual debate has also focused on whether ethnic conflict has become more prevalent since the end of the Cold War, and on devising ways of managing conflicts, through instruments such as consociationalism and federalisation.

Theories of causes
It is argued that rebel movements are more likely to organize around ethnicity because ethnic groups are more apt to be aggrieved, better able to mobilize, and more likely to face difficult bargaining challenges compared to other groups. The causes of ethnic conflict are debated by political scientists and sociologists. Official academic explanations generally fall into one of three schools of thought: primordialist, instrumentalist, and constructivist. More recent scholarship draws on all three schools.

Primordialist accounts
Proponents of primordialist accounts argue that "[e]thnic groups and nationalities exist because there are traditions of belief and action towards primordial objects such as biological features and especially territorial location". Primordialist accounts rely on strong ties of kinship among members of ethnic groups. Donald L. Horowitz argues that this kinship "makes it possible for ethnic groups to think in terms of family resemblances".

Clifford Geertz, a founding scholar of primordialism, asserts that each person has a natural connection to perceived kinsmen. In time and through repeated conflict, essential ties to one's ethnicity will coalesce and will interfere with ties to civil society. Ethnic groups will consequently always threaten the survival of civil governments but not the existence of nations formed by one ethnic group. Thus, when considered through a primordial lens, ethnic conflict in multi-ethnic society is inevitable.

A number of political scientists argue that the root causes of ethnic conflict do not involve ethnicity per se but rather institutional, political, and economic factors. These scholars argue that the concept of ethnic war is misleading because it leads to an essentialist conclusion that certain groups are doomed to fight each other when in fact the wars between them that occur are often the result of political decisions.

Moreover, primordial accounts do not account for the spatial and temporal variations in ethnic violence. If these "ancient hatreds" are always simmering under the surface and are at the forefront of people's consciousness, then ethnic groups should constantly be ensnared in violence. However, ethnic violence occurs in sporadic outbursts. For example, Varshney points out that although Yugoslavia broke up due to ethnic violence in the 1990s, it had enjoyed a long peace of decades before the USSR collapsed. Therefore, some scholars claim that it is unlikely that primordial ethnic differences alone caused the outbreak of violence in the 1990s.

Primordialists have reformulated the "ancient hatreds" hypothesis and have focused more on the role of human nature. Petersen argues that the existence of hatred and animosity does not have to be rooted in history for it to play a role in shaping human behavior and action: "If 'ancient hatred' means a hatred consuming the daily thoughts of great masses of people, then the 'ancient hatreds' argument deserves to be readily dismissed. However, if hatred is conceived as a historically formed 'schema' that guides action in some situations, then the conception should be taken more seriously."

Instrumentalist accounts
Anthony Smith notes that the instrumentalist account "came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, in the debate about (white) ethnic persistence in what was supposed to have been an effective melting pot". This new theory sought explained persistence as the result of the actions of community leaders, "who used their cultural groups as sites of mass mobilization and as constituencies in their competition for power and resources, because they found them more effective than social classes". In this account of ethnic identification, ethnicity and race are viewed as instrumental means to achieve particular ends.

Whether ethnicity is a fixed perception or not is not crucial in the instrumentalist accounts. Moreover, the scholars of this school generally do not oppose the view that ethnic difference plays a part in many conflicts. They simply claim that ethnic difference is not sufficient to explain conflicts.

Mass mobilization of ethnic groups can only be successful if there are latent ethnic differences to be exploited, otherwise politicians would not even attempt to make political appeals based on ethnicity and would focus instead on economic or ideological appeals. For these reasons, it is difficult to completely discount the role of inherent ethnic differences. Additionally, ethnic entrepreneurs, or elites, could be tempted to mobilize ethnic groups in order to gain their political support in democratizing states. Instrumentalists theorists especially emphasize this interpretation in ethnic states in which one ethnic group is promoted at the expense of other ethnicities.

Furthermore, ethnic mass mobilization is likely to be plagued by collective action problems, especially if ethnic protests are likely to lead to violence. Instrumentalist scholars have tried to respond to these shortcomings. For example, Russell Hardin argues that ethnic mobilization faces problems of coordination and not collective action. He points out that a charismatic leader acts as a focal point around which members of an ethnic group coalesce. The existence of such an actor helps to clarify beliefs about the behavior of others within an ethnic group.

Constructivist accounts
A third, constructivist, set of accounts stress the importance of the socially constructed nature of ethnic groups, drawing on Benedict Anderson's concept of the imagined community. Proponents of this account point to Rwanda as an example because the Tutsi/Hutu distinction was codified by the Belgian colonial power in the 1930s on the basis of cattle ownership, physical measurements and church records. Identity cards were issued on this basis, and these documents played a key role in the genocide of 1994.

Some argue that constructivist narratives of historical master cleavages are unable to account for local and regional variations in ethnic violence. For example, Varshney highlights that in the 1960s "racial violence in the USA was heavily concentrated in northern cities; southern cities though intensely politically engaged, did not have riots". A constructivist master narrative is often a country level variable whereas studies of incidences of ethnic violence are often done at the regional and local level.

Scholars of ethnic conflict and civil wars have introduced theories that draw insights from all three traditional schools of thought. In The Geography of Ethnic Violence, Monica Duffy Toft shows how ethnic group settlement patterns, socially constructed identities, charismatic leaders, issue indivisibility, and state concern with precedent setting can lead rational actors to escalate a dispute to violence, even when doing so is likely to leave contending groups much worse off. Such research addresses empirical puzzles that are difficult to explain using primordialist, instrumentalist, or constructivist approaches alone. As Varshney notes, "pure essentialists and pure instrumentalists do not exist anymore".

Study in the post-Cold War world

One of the most debated issues relating to ethnic conflict is whether it has become more or less prevalent in the post–Cold War period. Even though a decline in the rate of new ethnic conflicts was evident in the late 1990s, ethnic conflict remains the most common form of armed intrastate conflict today. At the end of the Cold War, academics including Samuel P. Huntington and Robert D. Kaplan predicted a proliferation of conflicts fueled by civilisational clashes, Tribalism, resource scarcity and overpopulation.

The violent ethnic conflicts in Nigeria, Mali, Sudan and other countries in the Sahel region have been exacerbated by droughts, food shortages, land degradation, and population growth.

However, some theorists contend that this does not represent a rise in the incidence of ethnic conflict, because many of the proxy wars fought during the Cold War as ethnic conflicts were actually hot spots of the Cold War. Research shows that the fall of Communism and the increase in the number of capitalist states were accompanied by a decline in total warfare, interstate wars, ethnic wars, revolutionary wars, and the number of refugees and displaced persons. Indeed, some scholars have questioned whether the concept of ethnic conflict is useful at all. Others have attempted to test the "clash of civilisations" thesis, finding it to be difficult to operationalise and that civilisational conflicts have not risen in intensity in relation to other ethnic conflicts since the end of the Cold War.

A key question facing scholars who attempt to adapt their theories of interstate violence to explain or predict large-scale ethnic violence is whether ethnic groups could be considered "rational" actors. Prior to the end of the Cold War, the consensus among students of large-scale violence was that ethnic groups should be considered irrational actors, or semi-rational at best. If true, general explanations of ethnic violence would be impossible. In the years since, however, scholarly consensus has shifted to consider that ethnic groups may in fact be counted as rational actors, and the puzzle of their apparently irrational actions (for example, fighting over territory of little or no intrinsic worth) must therefore be explained in some other way. As a result, the possibility of a general explanation of ethnic violence has grown, and collaboration between comparativist and international-relations sub-fields has resulted in increasingly useful theories of ethnic conflict.

Public goods provision
A major source of ethnic conflict in multi-ethnic democracies is over the access to state patronage. Conflicts over state resources between ethnic groups can increase the likelihood of ethnic violence. In ethnically divided societies, demand for public goods decreases as each ethnic group derives more utility from benefits targeted at their ethnic group in particular. These benefits would be less valued if all other ethnic groups had access to them. Targeted benefits are more appealing because ethnic groups can solidify or heighten their social and economic status relative to other ethnic groups whereas broad programmatic policies will not improve their relative worth. Politicians and political parties in turn, have an incentive to favor co-ethnics in their distribution of material benefits. Over the long run, ethnic conflict over access to state benefits is likely to lead to the ethnification of political parties and the party system as a whole where the political salience of ethnic identity increase leading to a self-fulfilling equilibrium: If politicians only distribute benefits on an ethnic basis, voters will see themselves primarily belonging to an ethnic group and view politicians the same way. They will only vote for the politician belonging to the same ethnic group. In turn, politicians will refrain from providing public goods because it will not serve them well electorally to provide services to people not belonging to their ethnic group. In democratizing societies, this could lead to ethnic outbidding and lead to extreme politicians pushing out moderate co-ethnics. Patronage politics and ethnic politics eventually reinforce each other, leading to what Chandra terms a "patronage democracy".

The existence of patronage networks between local politicians and ethnic groups make it easier for politicians to mobilize ethnic groups and instigate ethnic violence for electoral gain since the neighborhood or city is already polarized along ethnic lines. The dependence of ethnic groups on their co-ethnic local politician for access to state resources is likely to make them more responsive to calls of violence against other ethnic groups. Therefore, the existence of these local patronage channels generates incentives for ethnic groups to engage in politically motivated violence.

While the link between ethnic heterogeneity and under provision of public goods is generally accepted, there is little consensus around the causal mechanism underlying this relationship. To identify possible causal stories, Humphreys and Habyarimana ran a series of behavioral games in Kampala, Uganda, that involved several local participants completing joint tasks and allocating money amongst them. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, they find that participants did not favor the welfare of their co-ethnics disproportionately. It was only when anonymity was removed and everyone's ethnicity was known did co-ethnics decide to favor each other. Humphreys and Habyarimana argue that cooperation among co-ethnics is primarily driven by reciprocity norms that tend to be stronger among co-ethnics. The possibility of social sanctions compelled those who would not otherwise cooperate with their co-ethnics to do so. The authors find no evidence to suggest that co-ethnics display a greater degree of altruism towards each other or have the same preferences. Ethnic cooperation takes place because co-ethnics have common social networks and therefore can monitor each other and can threaten to socially sanction any transgressors.

Online social media
In the early twenty-first century, the online social networking service Facebook has played a role in amplifying ethnic violence in the Rohingya genocide that started in October 2016 and in ethnic violence in Ethiopia during 2019–2020.

The United Nations Human Rights Council described Facebook as having been "a useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate" and complained that Facebook was unable to provide data on the extent of its role in the genocide.

During 2019–2020, posts on Facebook dominated the Internet in Ethiopia and played a major role in encouraging ethnic violence. An October 2019 Facebook post led to the deaths of 70 people in Ethiopia. In mid-2020, ethnic tensions in Ethiopia were amplified by online hate speech on Facebook that followed the 29 June assassination of Hachalu Hundessa. The Hachalu Hundessa riots, in which mobs "lynched, beheaded, and dismembered their victims", took place with "almost-instant and widespread sharing of hate speech and incitement to violence on Facebook, which whipped up people's anger", according to David Gilbert writing in Vice. People "call[ed] for genocide and attacks against specific religious or ethnic groups" and "openly post[ed] photographs of burned-out cars, buildings, schools and houses", according to Network Against Hate Speech, an Ethiopian citizens' group. Berhan Taye of Access Now stated that in Ethiopia, offline violence quickly leads to online "calls for ethnic attacks, discrimination, and destruction of property [that] goes viral". He stated, "Facebook's inaction helps propagate hate and polarization in a country and has a devastating impact on the narrative and extent of the violence."

Institutional ethnic conflict resolution
A number of scholars have attempted to synthesize the methods available for the resolution, management or transformation of their ethnic conflict. John Coakley, for example, has developed a typology of the methods of conflict resolution that have been employed by states, which he lists as: indigenization, accommodation, assimilation, acculturation, population transfer, boundary alteration, genocide and ethnic suicide. John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary have developed a taxonomy of eight macro-political ethnic conflict regulation methods, which they note are often employed by states in combination with each other. They include a number of methods that they note are clearly morally unacceptable.

With increasing interest in the field of ethnic conflict, many policy analysts and political scientists theorized potential resolutions and tracked the results of institutional policy implementation. As such, theories often focus on which Institutions are the most appropriate for addressing ethnic conflict.

Consociationalism
Consociationalism is a power sharing agreement which coopts the leaders of ethnic groups into the central state's government. Each nation or ethnic group is represented in the government through a supposed spokesman for the group. In the power sharing agreement, each group has veto powers to varying degrees, dependent on the particular state. Moreover, the norm of proportional representation is dominant: each group is represented in the government in a percentage that reflects the ethnicity's demographic presence in the state. Another requirement for Arend Lijphart is that the government must be composed of a "grand coalition" of the ethnic group leaders which supposes a top-down approach to conflict resolution.

In theory, this leads to self governance and protection for the ethnic group. Many scholars maintain that since ethnic tension erupts into ethnic violence when the ethnic group is threatened by a state, then veto powers should allow the ethnic group to avoid legislative threats. Switzerland is often characterized as a successful consociationalist state.

A recent example of a consociational government is the post-conflict Bosnian government that was agreed upon in the Dayton Accords in 1995. A tripartite presidency was chosen and must have a Croat, a Serb, and a Bosniak. The presidents take turns acting as the forefront executive in terms of 8 months for 4 years. Many have credited this compromise of a consociational government in Bosnia for the end of the violence and the following long-lasting peace.

In contrast to Lijphart, several political scientists and policy analysts have condemned consociationalism. One of the many critiques is that consociationalism locks in ethnic tensions and identities. This assumes a primordial stance that ethnic identities are permanent and not subject to change. Furthermore, this does not allow for any "others" that might want to partake in the political process. As of 2012 a Jewish Bosnian is suing the Bosnian government from precluding him from running for presidential office since only a Croat, Serb, or Bosniak can run under the consociational government. Determining ethnic identities in advance and implementing a power sharing system on the basis of these fixed identities is inherently discriminatory against minority groups that might be not be recognized. Moreover, it discriminates against those who do not choose to define their identity on an ethnic or communal basis. In power sharing-systems that are based on pre-determined identities, there is a tendency to rigidly fix shares of representation on a permanent basis which will not reflect changing demographics over time. The categorization of individuals in particular ethnic groups might be controversial anyway and might in fact fuel ethnic tensions.

The inherent weaknesses in using pre-determined ethnic identities to form power sharing systems has led Ljiphart to argue that adopting a constructivist approach to consociationalism can increase its likelihood of success. The self-determination of ethnic identities is more likely to be "non-discriminatory, neutral, flexible and self-adjusting". For example, in South Africa, the toxic legacy of apartheid meant that successful consociation could only be built on the basis of the self-determination of groups. Ljiphart claims that because ethnic identities are often "unclear, fluid and flexible," self-determination is likely to be more successful than pre-determination of ethnic groups. A constructivist approach to consociational theory can therefore strengthen its value as a method to resolve ethnic conflict.

Another critique points to the privileging of ethnic identity over personal political choice. Howard has deemed consociationalism as a form of ethnocracy and not a path to true pluralistic democracy. Consociationalism assumes that a politician will best represent the will of his co-ethnics above other political parties. This might lead to the polarization of ethnic groups and the loss of non-ethnic ideological parties.

Horowitz has argued that a single transferable vote system could prevent the ethnification of political parties because voters cast their ballots in order of preference. This means that a voter could cast some of his votes to parties other than his co-ethnic party. This in turn would compel political parties to broaden their manifestos to appeal to voters across the ethnic divide to hoover up second and third preference votes.

Federalism
The theory of implementing federalism in order to curtail ethnic conflict assumes that self-governance reduces "demands for sovereignty". Hechter argues that some goods such as language of education and bureaucracy must be provided as local goods, instead of statewide, in order to satisfy more people and ethnic groups. Some political scientists such as Stroschein contend that ethnofederalism, or federalism determined along ethnic lines, is "asymmetric" as opposed to the equal devolution of power found in non-ethnic federal states, such as the United States. In this sense, special privileges are granted to specific minority groups as concessions and incentives to end violence or mute conflict.

The Soviet Union divided its structure into ethnic federal states termed Union Republics. Each Union Republic was named after a titular ethnic group who inhabited the area as a way to Sovietize nationalist sentiments during the 1920s. Brubaker asserts that these titular republics were formed in order to absorb any potential elite led nationalist movements against the Soviet center by incentivizing elite loyalty through advancement in the Soviet political structure.

Thus, federalism provides some self-governance for local matters in order to satisfy some of the grievances which might cause ethnic conflict among the masses. Moreover, federalism brings in the elites and ethnic entrepreneurs into the central power structure; this prevents a resurgence of top-down ethnic conflict.

Nevertheless, after the fall of the USSR many critiques of federalism as an institution to resolve ethnic conflict emerged. The devolution of power away from the central state can weaken ties to the central state. Moreover, the parallel institutions created to serve a particular nation or ethnic group might provide significant resources for secession from the central state. As most states are unwilling to give up an integral portion of their territory, secessionist movements may trigger violence.

Furthermore, some competing elite political players may not be in power; they would remain unincorporated into the central system. These competing elites can gain access through federal structures and their resources to solidify their political power in the structure. According to V.P. Gagnon this was the case in the former Yugoslavia and its disintegration into its ethnic federal states. Ethnic entrepreneurs were able to take control of the institutionally allocated resources to wage war on other ethnic groups.

Non-territorial autonomy
A recent theory of ethnic tension resolution is non-territorial autonomy or NTA. NTA has emerged in recent years as an alternative solution to ethnic tensions and grievances in places that are likely to breed conflict. For this reason, NTA has been promoted as a more practical and state building solution than consociationalism. NTA, alternatively known as non-cultural autonomy (NCA), is based on the difference of jus solis and jus sanguinis, the principles of territory versus that of personhood. It gives rights to ethnic groups to self-rule and govern matters potentially concerning but limited to: education, language, culture, internal affairs, religion, and the internally established institutions needed to promote and reproduce these facets. In contrast to federalism, the ethnic groups are not assigned a titular sub-state, but rather the ethnic groups are dispersed throughout the state unit. Their group rights and autonomy are not constrained to a particular territory within the state. This is done in order not to weaken the center state such as in the case of ethnofederalism.

The origin of NTA can be traced back to the Marxists works of Otto Bauer and Karl Renner. NTA was employed during the interwar period, and the League of Nations sought to add protection clauses for national minorities in new states. In the 1920s, Estonia granted some cultural autonomy to the German and Jewish populations in order to ease conflicts between the groups and the newly independent state.

In Europe, most notably in Belgium, NTA laws have been enacted and created parallel institutions and political parties in the same country. In Belgium, NTA has been integrated within the federal consociational system. Some scholars of ethnic conflict resolution claim that the practice of NTA will be employed dependent on the concentration and size of the ethnic group asking for group rights.

Other scholars, such as Clarke, argue that the successful implementation of NTA rests on the acknowledgement in a state of "universal" principles: true rule of law, established human rights, stated guarantees to minorities and their members to use their own quotidien language, religion, and food practices, and a framework of anti-discrimination legislation in order to enforce these rights. Moreover, no individual can be forced to adhere, identify, or emphasize a particular identity (such as race, gender, sexuality, etc.) without their consent in order for NTA to function for its purpose.

Nonetheless, Clarke critiques the weaknesses of NTA in areas such as education, a balance between society wide norms and intracommunity values; policing, for criminal matters and public safety; and political representation, which limits the political choices of an individual if based solely on ethnicity. Furthermore, the challenge in evaluating the efficacy of NTA lies in the relatively few legal implementations of NTA.

Cultural rights
Emphasizing the limits of approaches that focus mainly on institutional answers to ethnic conflicts—which are essentially driven by ethnocultural dynamics of which political and/or economic factors are but elements—Gregory Paul Meyjes urges the use of intercultural communication and cultural-rights based negotiations as tools with which to effectively and sustainably address inter-ethnic strife. Meyjes argues that to fully grasp, preempt, and/or resolve such conflicts—whether with or without the aid of territorial or non-territorial institutional mechanism(s) -- a cultural rights approach grounded in intercultural knowledge and skill is essential.

Informal inter-ethnic engagement
Institutionalist arguments for resolving ethnic conflict often focus on national-level institutions and do not account for regional and local variation in ethnic violence within a country. Despite similar levels of ethnic diversity in a country, some towns and cities have often found to be especially prone to ethnic violence. For example, Ashutosh Varshney, in his study of ethnic violence in India, argues that strong inter-ethnic engagement in villages often disincentivizes politicians from stoking ethnic violence for electoral gain. Informal interactions include joint participation in festivals, families from different communities eating together or allowing their children to play with one another. Every day engagement between ethnic groups at the village level can help to sustain the peace in the face of national level shocks like an ethnic riot in another part of the country. In times of ethnic tension, these communities can quell rumors, police neighborhoods and come together to resist any attempts by politicians to polarize the community. The stronger the inter-ethnic networks are, the harder it is for politicians to polarize the community even if it may be in their political interest to do so.

Formal inter-ethnic associations
In cities where the population tends to be much higher, informal interactions between ethnic groups might not be sufficient to prevent violence. This is because many more links are needed to connect everyone, and therefore it is much more difficult to form and strengthen inter-ethnic ties. In cities, formal inter-ethnic associations like trade unions, business associations and professional organizations are more effective in encouraging inter-ethnic interactions that could prevent ethnic violence in the future. These organizations force ethnic groups to come together based on shared economic interests that overcomes any pre-existing ethnic differences. For example, inter-ethnic business organizations serve to connect the business interests of different ethnic groups which would increase their desire to maintain ethnic harmony. Any ethnic tension or outbreak of violence will go against their economic interests and therefore, over time, the salience of ethnic identity diminishes.

Interactions between ethnic groups in formal settings can also help countries torn apart by ethnic violence to recover and break down ethnic divisions. Paula Pickering, a political scientist, who studies peace-building efforts in Bosnia, finds that formal workplaces are often the site where inter-ethnic ties are formed. She claims that mixed workplaces lead to repeated inter-ethnic interaction where norms of professionalism compel everyone to cooperate and to treat each other with respect, making it easier for individuals belonging to the minority group to reach out and form relationships with everyone else. Nevertheless, Giuliano's research in Russia has shown that economic grievances, even in a mixed workplace, can be politicized on ethnic lines.

Examples of ethnic conflicts

 * Human rights in Ethiopia
 * Ethnic violence in Konso
 * Ethnic violence against Amaro Koore
 * Sampit conflict
 * Caste War of Yucatán
 * Russo-Ukrainian War
 * First Chechen War
 * Indo-Pakistani war of 1947–1948
 * First Sino-Japanese War
 * Basque conflict
 * Bersiap
 * Maluku sectarian conflict
 * Caucasian War
 * Yugoslav Wars
 * Galikoma massacre
 * The Troubles
 * Transnistria War
 * War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)
 * Insurgency in the North Caucasus
 * Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
 * Polish-Ukrainian War
 * Polish-Ukrainian ethnic conflict during World War 2
 * Hungarian-Romanian War
 * American Indian Wars
 * Armenian genocide
 * Amhara genocide
 * Rwandan genocide
 * Rohingya genocide
 * Guatemalan genocide
 * Israeli-Palestinian conflict
 * Communal conflicts in Nigeria
 * Sudanese nomadic conflicts
 * Oromo–Somali clashes
 * Tuareg rebellions (multiple)
 * Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)
 * Central African Republic conflict (2013–2014)
 * Ethnic conflict in Nagaland
 * Internal conflict in Myanmar
 * Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso
 * Sabra and Shatila massacre
 * Sri Lankan Civil War
 * 2020 Dungan–Kazakh ethnic clashes
 * 2023 Manipur violence

title: Ethnic conflict


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Manneken Pis

 * ) is a landmark 55.5 cm bronze fountain sculpture in central Brussels, Belgium, depicting a puer mingens; a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. Though its existence is attested as early as the mid-15th century, Manneken Pis was redesigned by the Brabantine sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder and put in place in 1619. Its stone niche in rocaille style dates from 1770. The statue has been repeatedly stolen or damaged throughout its history. Since 1965, a replica has been displayed, with the original stored in the Brussels City Museum.

Manneken Pis is one of the best-known symbols of Brussels and Belgium, inspiring several legends, as well as numerous imitations and similar statues both nationally and abroad. The figure is regularly dressed up and its wardrobe consists of around one thousand different costumes. Since 2017, they have been exhibited in a dedicated museum called GardeRobe MannekenPis. Owing to its self-derisive nature, Manneken Pis is also an example of belgitude (French; lit. 'Belgianness'), as well as of folk humour (zwanze) popular in Brussels.

Manneken Pis is approximately five minutes' walk from the Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brussels' main square), at the junction of the Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat and the pedestrian Rue de l'Étuve/Stoofstraat. This site is served by the premetro (underground tram) station Bourse/Beurs (on lines 3 and 4), as well as the bus stop Grand-Place/Grote Markt (on lines 33, 48 and 95).

Naming
The statue's original name was Menneke Pis or Menneke Pist. In fact, in the Brabantian dialect of Brussels (known as Brusselian, and also sometimes referred to as Marols or Marollien), een manneke means a small man, whereas een menneke means a little boy (it is the diminutive of men, meaning boy), though in modern Flemish (the local variant of Dutch), menneke also means a small man (it is synonymous to mannetje). Nowadays, the name Manneken Pis (Dutch, ; "Little Pissing Man"; also used in English) is official in both French and Dutch.

Manneken Pis is sometimes given the nickname of Petit Julien in French or Julianske in Dutch (both meaning "Little Julien"), which in fact refers to a now-disappeared fountain of the "Little Julien" (Juliaenkensborre). This stems from a confusion by the 19th-century historians Alexandre Henne and Alphonse Wauters, who mistook the two well-distinct fountains because of their proximity. Due to its long history, the statue is also sometimes dubbed le plus vieux bourgeois de Bruxelles in French or de oudste burger van Brussel in Dutch ("the oldest bourgeois of Brussels").

Origins of Manneken Pis

The earliest mention of the existence of Manneken Pis can be found in an administrative document from 1451–52 about the water lines supplying the fountains of Brussels. From the beginning, the fountain played an essential role in the distribution of drinking water. It stood on a column and poured water into a double rectangular basin of stone. The only representations of this first statue can be found, very schematically, on a map by the cartographers Georg Braun and Frans Hogenberg, in which the fountain appeared to be installed directly on the street and not on a corner as it is today. Manneken Pis is depicted again in a painting from 1616 by the court painters Denis Van Alsloot and Antoon Sallaert representing Brussels' Ommegang of 1615, as well as in a preparatory drawing to this painting, in which it is dressed as a shepherd.

The first statue was replaced with a new bronze version, commissioned in 1619 by Brussels' city council. This 55.5 cm bronze statue, on the corner of the Rue de l'Étuve/Stoofstraat and the Rue des Grands Carmes/Lievevrouwbroerstraat, was conceived by the Brabantine sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy the Elder (1570–1641), father of the architect and sculptor Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger and the famous sculptor François Duquesnoy. It was probably cast and installed in 1620. During that time, the column supporting the statue and the double rectangular basin collecting water were completely remodelled by the stone cutter Daniel Raessens.

17th–19th centuries

During its history, Manneken Pis faced many hazards. It survived undamaged the bombardment of Brussels of 1695 by the French army, but the pipes having been affected, it could not deliver its water for some time. A pamphlet published the same year recounts this episode. This text is the oldest attesting that Manneken Pis had become "an object of glory appreciated by all and renowned throughout the world". It is also the first time that it served as a symbol for the people of Brussels. It is also traditionally said that after the bombardment, it was triumphantly placed again on its pedestal. On that occasion, the following passage from the Bible was inscribed above its head: In petra exaltavit me, et nunc exaltavi caput meum super inimicos meos ("The Lord placed me on a stone base, and now I raise my head above my enemies").

As shown by an engraving by Jacobus Harrewijn, dating from 1697, the fountain was no longer located on the street, but in a recess at the corner of the Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat and the Rue de l'Étuve/Stoofstraat and was protected by a gate. In 1770, the column and the double rectangular basin disappeared; the statue was integrated into a new decor, in the form of a stone niche in rocaille style, originating from another dismantled fountain of Brussels. The water simply flowed through a grating in the ground, which was replaced with a basin in the 19th century. In its new setting, Manneken Pis gives the impression of being smaller than in its original layout.

The whole structure is protected by railings, the last version of which dates from 1851. The latter prevented access to water, relegating the fountain to a decorative and symbolic role. It is also the case, around the same time, of the other fountains in Brussels. This correlates with efforts by the City of Brussels, starting in 1855, to allow for the distribution of drinking water in homes.

The figure has repeatedly been the object of theft or attempted theft. Legend has it that the statue was removed in 1745 by English soldiers and found in the Flemish town of Geraardsbergen (Grammont). As a sign of their appreciation, the people of Brussels gave this city a replica of the statue. In reality, the first attempted theft was made in 1747 by a group of French grenadiers stationed in Brussels. The population rebelled against this deed and threatened a bloody revenge. To calm things down, the King of France, Louis XV, offered a gentleman's gown of brocade, embroidered with gold, to Manneken Pis. He also authorised the statue to carry the sword, and decorated it with the Cross of St. Louis.

The statue was stolen in 1817 by the fugitive Antoine Licas. The perpetrator was heavily punished; he was condemned to forced labour for life, and was first tied for an hour to stocks on the Grand-Place/Grote Markt. The original statue was broken into eleven pieces during this abduction and was restored by a specialised welder, under the supervision of sculptor Gilles-Lambert Godecharle. The pieces were matched and used to make a mould in which the bronze statue was poured. The statue was then screwed onto a new base marked "1620 – REST 1817".

20th century–present

Manneken Pis experienced similar misadventures in the 20th century. Two attempted thefts occurred in 1955 and 1957. Some accounts say that it has been stolen up to seven times; in January 1963 by students of the Antwerp student's association "De Wikings" of the Sint-Ignatius Handelshogeschool (Higher Business Education), now part of the Antwerp University, who "hijacked" the statue for five days before handing it over to the Antwerp authorities. The local and international press covered the story, contributing to the students' collection of funds donated to two orphanages. The case did go further, however, and the base was replaced identically by the former foundry of La Compagnie des Bronzes de Bruxelles, to which the statue was anchored by a reinforced bronze attachment.

Things were more serious when it disappeared in 1965; the statue had been broken by the thief and only the feet and ankles remained. In June 1966, the Antwerp magazine De Post received an anonymous phone call, signalling that the "body" was in the Charleroi Canal. It was found there by divers, sent by the magazine, and was brought back to Brussels on 27 June. Restored once again, the statue was sheltered and the original version is now kept and displayed on the second floor of the Brussels City Museum, at the King's House, on the Grand-Place. In the meantime, a replica of the statue had already been commissioned by Brussels' authorities and cast by La Compagnie des Bronzes. The new statue was thus installed in place of the old one and this version still adorns the niche on the Rue du Chêne to this day.

In late 2018, city technician Régis Callens discovered that the basin of the statue had developed a leak, leading to a reported 1000 – of water being used per day. The leak occurred for an unknown number of years, unnoticed among the several hundred water features in the City of Brussels and was only later discovered with the help of Shayp water monitoring technology. The statue received a temporary fix in March 2019, with a permanent recirculating system set to be installed. The solution was announced during Brussels Water Week where city officials cited the situation as motivation to check for similar problems in other fountains.

Legends

There are several legends behind Manneken Pis, but the most famous is one involving Duke Godfrey III of Leuven. In 1142, the troops of this two-year-old lord were battling against the troops of the Berthouts, the lords of Grimbergen, in Ransbeek (now Neder-Over-Heembeek, a northern part of the City of Brussels). To give themselves courage, the soldiers placed the infant lord in a basket which they hung from a large oak tree overlooking the battlefield. While his men were in dire straits, the little duke rose up in the basket, and from his perch, urinated onto the troops of the Berthouts, who eventually lost the battle. The fountain perpetuates the memory of this victory. The name of the Rue du Chêne/Eikstraat ("Oak Tree Street"), at the corner of which the statue is located, recalls the famous tree.

 * Another legend suggests that, in the 14th century, Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city had held its ground for some time, so the attackers conceived of a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Julianske happened to be spying on them, as they were preparing. He urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city. There was, at the time (middle of the 15th century, perhaps as early as 1388), a similar statue made of stone. The statue was stolen several times.
 * Another story tells of a wealthy merchant who, during a visit to the city with his family, had his beloved young son go missing. The merchant hastily formed a search party, which scoured all corners of the city, until the boy was found happily urinating in a small garden. The merchant, as a gift of gratitude to the locals who helped out during the search, had the fountain built.
 * Another legend tells that a small boy went missing from his mother, when shopping in the centre of the city. The woman, panic-stricken by the loss of her child, called upon everyone she came across, including the mayor of the city. A citywide search began, and when at last the child was found, he was urinating on the corner of a small street. The story was passed down over time and the statue was erected as a tribute to the well-known legend.
 * Another legend tells of the young boy who was awoken by a fire and was able to put out the fire with his urine. In the end, this helped stop the king's castle from burning down.

Costumes and wardrobe

Manneken Pis is dressed in costumes, several times each week, according to a published schedule, which is posted on the railings around the fountain. Since 1954, the costumes are managed by the non-profit association The Order of the Friends of Manneken Pis, who review hundreds of designs submitted each year, and select a small number to be produced and used. His wardrobe consists of around one thousand different costumes, many of which could previously be viewed in a permanent exhibition inside the Brussels City Museum, located on the Grand-Place, immediately opposite the Town Hall. In February 2017, a specially designed museum, called GardeRobe MannekenPis, opened its doors at 19, rue du Chêne/Eikstraat.

Although the proliferation of costumes is of 20th-century origin, their occasional use dates back almost to the date of casting. The oldest evidence of the tradition of dressing Manneken Pis dates from 1615; during the Ommegang of Brussels organised that year in honour of Archduchess Isabella, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, Manneken Pis was dressed in a shepherd's costume. He received his first costume on 1 May 1698 from the Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria, during the festivities of one of the Guilds of Brussels. The oldest costume on display in the City Museum, the gentleman's gown offered by King Louis XV, is also of 17th-century origin. In 1756, an inventory indicates that Manneken Pis had five complete costumes. From 1918 to 1940, he was offered some thirty costumes. But it was especially after 1945 that the movement took on an exceptional dimension; he had more than 400 costumes in 1994, more than 750 in 2005, and more than 950 in 2016. In 2018, Manneken Pis received his 1000th costume, created by fashion designer Jean-Paul Lespagnard.

The costume change on the figure is a colourful ceremony, often accompanied by brass band music. Many costumes represent the national dress of nations whose citizens come to Brussels as tourists; others are the uniforms of assorted trades, professions, associations, and branches of the civil and military services. As well as historical clothing, the wardrobe also contains modern costumes, such as ones of Dracula, Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus. In the past, the costume was cut without a cutting pattern. The sleeves were padded with cotton wool and ended with gloves. It is only since 1945 that a pattern allowed the making of more fitted costumes.

Folklore
The Order of the Friends of Manneken Pis was founded in 1954 and has more than 150 members. The objective of the Order is to stimulate the cultural, tourist, philanthropic and commercial development of Belgium in general, and more particularly to preserve the traditions linked to Manneken Pis. The Order is always present during the ceremonies surrounding the presentation of new costumes and during the statue's official greetings and anniversaries.

On certain folkloric occasions (e.g. Saint-Verhaegen, Meyboom plantation), Manneken Pis is hooked up to a keg of beer. Cups are filled up with the beer flowing from the statue and given out to passers-by.

In Belgium

Although Brussels' Manneken Pis is the best known, others exist all across the country. As early as the 17th century, the statue was the subject of decorative replicas. The Brussels City Museum exhibits a copy which was crafted by Jacques Van den Broeck in 1630, probably from a cast of Duquesnoy's statue. Another local copy, from 1636, in a private American collection, is attributed to the German founder Daniel Haneman. Similar statues can also be found in the Flemish cities of Koksijde, Hasselt, Ghent, and Bruges, as well as in the Walloon municipality of Braine-l'Alleud (where it is called El Gamin qui piche, meaning "The Peeing Kid" in Walloon).

Feud with Geraardsbergen
There is an ongoing dispute over which Manneken Pis is the oldest; the one in Brussels or the one in Geraardsbergen. According to tradition, Geraardsbergen was in a rebuilding phase after the devastating passage of Jean II de Croÿ's troops in the spring of 1452, during a war opposing the city of Ghent and the Burgundian duke Philip the Good. On that occasion, the spout from one of the city's fountains, in the shape of a copper lion's head, was taken by the people of Ghent. The aldermen of Geraardsbergen thus had their own Manneken Pis made in 1459 to replace it. The statue was cast in brass by Reinier Van Tienen, based on a model designed by Gillis Vander Jeught.

It can be assumed that the first version of Brussels' Manneken Pis, dating from before 1451, served as inspiration to Geraardsbergen's statue. Looking at the ages of the statues, both of them are replicas; the one in Brussels dating from 1965 and the one in Geraardsbergen from 1985. The design of Geraarsbergen's original statue, however, which dates from 1459, antedates that of Duquesnoy's statue, from 1619. It is on this basis that Geraardsbergen asserts that its Manneken Pis is the oldest, but since there was probably already a Manneken Pis in 1452 in Brussels, the tradition might be slightly older there.

Internationally
Since the 20th century, numerous copies or imitations of Manneken Pis have been created abroad. It is necessary to distinguish the official copies offered by the City of Brussels from copies and imitations carried out privately by admirers of the little statue. Official copies were offered to:
 * 🇫🇷 Colmar, France (1921)
 * 🇯🇵 Osaka, Japan (1928)
 * 🇲🇨 Monaco (1951)
 * London, United Kingdom (1959)
 * 🇫🇷 Broxeele, France (1979)
 * 🇪🇸 Benalmadena, Spain (1991)
 * 🇯🇵 Nagoya, Japan (2015)

A replica of Manneken Pis has pride of place in the lobby of the police station of Poitiers, France, commemorating the fact that this city was, for 26 days, the seat of the Belgian government during World War II. Similar copies of the statue exist in the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora, in the Danish town of Bogense, as well as in Chiayi Park in Taiwan. Another working replica stands on the platform of Tokyo's Hamamatsuchō Station. There, the statue is a great source of pride for station workers who dress it in various costumes—traditional and otherwise—at different times of year.

In September 2002, a Belgian-born waffle-maker set up a replica in front of his waffle stand in the Orlando Fashion Square mall, in Orlando, Florida. He recalled the legend as "the boy who saved Brussels from fire by extinguishing it with his urine" (perhaps confusing the legend with an incident in Gulliver's Travels). Some shocked shoppers made a formal complaint. Mall officials said that the waffle-shop owner did not follow procedures when he put up the statue and was therefore in violation of his lease.

In contrast, there is a 1 m similar statue known as Manequinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, made in 1908. It used to be in front of the National Library, but after complaints about immorality, it was moved to the headquarters of Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, a famous Brazilian football club, where it has been adopted as a mascot by the club. Fans usually dress it with the club's jersey after important wins.

Jeanneke Pis

Manneken Pis is not the only peeing statue in Brussels. Since 1987, it has had a female equivalent, Jeanneke Pis ("Little Pissing Joan"), located on the eastern side of the Impasse de la Fidélité/Getrouwheidsgang ("Fidelity Alley"), a narrow cul-de-sac some 30 m long leading northwards off the restaurant-packed Rue des Bouchers/Beenhouwersstraat, in central Brussels. The 50 cm bronze sculpture represents a little girl with short pigtails, squatting and urinating on a blue-grey limestone base. It feeds a small fountain and is now protected from vandalism by iron bars. It is, however, less illustrious than its masculine counterpart.

Het Zinneke

Het Zinneke, sometimes called Zinneke Pis, another bronze sculpture in central Brussels, depicting a dog urinating against a marker, can also be seen as a reference to Manneken Pis. It is, however, not associated with a fountain. Zinneke is a nickname chosen to represent a person from Brussels who was not born there. The word means "mutt" or "bastard" in Brusselian dialect, and originally referred to the city's stray dogs that hung around the streets by the Lesser Senne (a tangent canal of the river Senne, which circumnavigated Brussels along the city walls) until the end of the 19th century. It is located at the junction of the Rue des Chartreux/Kartuizersstraat and the Rue du Vieux-Marché-aux-Grains/Oude Graanmarkt, not far from the Halles Saint-Géry/Sint-Gorikshallen.

In popular culture

Being of prominent symbolic nature to Brussels and Belgium in general, Manneken Pis is widely used to represent both the city and country (as well as its people) in advertising, branding, tourism and as a national personification. The statue's self-derisive nature also embodies the typical Belgian identity referred to as belgitude (French; lit. 'Belgianness'), as well as a type of folk humour specific to Brussels (called zwanze in Brusselian dialect).

Surrounded by souvenir shops, the fountain has become a major tourist attraction. Figurine-sized replicas of Manneken Pis in brass, fiberglass, or even Belgian chocolate, are commonly sold there. Manneken Pis has also been adapted into such risqué souvenir items as ashtrays and corkscrews.

In 2001, the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair used an image of Manneken Pis in an advert attacking the Belgian national airline Sabena, with the slogan "Pissed off with Sabena's high fares?" Sabena sued Ryanair, claiming the comparison was misleading, and Ryanair was ordered to apologise. Their apology read "We're Sooooo Sorry Sabena!" and listed further price comparisons. Sabena went bankrupt later in 2001.

Books

 * Manneken Pis is granted a humorous tribute in the comic album Asterix in Belgium. For Asterix-related events taking place in Brussels, the sculpture has also been clad in Asterix's trademark garments.

Films

 * The 1968 film The Party, starring Peter Sellers, includes a reproduction of the statue in the house's extended water feature. The statue's peeing can be changed at an extended intercom panel, and Sellers, as Hrundi V. Bakshi, soaks a guest when he hits the wrong button.
 * In the 1986 film The Money Pit, the lead character, Walter Fielding, played by Tom Hanks, accidentally falls in a construction area where workers are renovating his home. In a sequence reminiscent of a Rube Goldberg machine, he stumbles through a window, across the roof, down a scaffold, finally into a wheeled bin in which he rolls down a hill and is dumped into a fountain resting directly under a replica of Manneken Pis.
 * Manneken Pis is a 1995 Belgian comedy-drama film, directed by Frank Van Passel and written by Christophe Dirickx. It premiered in May 1995 at the Cannes Film Festival. It received the André Cavens Award for Best Film and four awards at the Joseph Plateau Awards. The film was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 68th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

Games

 * A promotional expansion for the board game 7 Wonders allows a player to build Manneken Pis as an eighth wonder of the world.
 * In 2019, under pressure from owner Hasbro, the Brussels edition of the Monopoly board game censored Manneken Pis with swimming trunks.
 * Manneken Pis is featured in the 2021 party video game WarioWare: Get It Together! in a microgame titled Manneken Pis where the player must use the statue to douse flames.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Manneken Pis


text:
Stevie Smith

Florence Margaret Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), known as Stevie Smith, was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, Stevie by Hugh Whitemore, based on her life, was adapted into a film starring Glenda Jackson.

Life
Stevie Smith, born Florence Margaret Smith in Kingston upon Hull, was the second daughter of Charles Ward Smith (1872-1949) and Ethel Rahel (1876-1919), daughter of successful maritime engineer John Spear. She was called "Peggy" within her family, but acquired the name "Stevie" as a young woman when she was riding in the park with a friend who said that she reminded him of the jockey Steve Donoghue.

Her father was a shipping agent, a business that he had inherited from his father. As the company and his marriage began to fall apart, he ran away to sea and Smith saw very little of him after that. He appeared occasionally on 24-hour shore leave and sent very brief postcards (one of which read, "Off to Valparaiso, Love Daddy").

When Stevie Smith was three years old, she moved with her mother and sister to Palmers Green in North London where she would live until her death in 1971. She resented the fact that her father had abandoned his family. Later, when her mother became ill, her aunt Madge Spear (whom Smith called "The Lion Aunt") came to live with them, raised Smith and her elder sister Molly and became the most important person in Smith's life. Spear was a feminist who claimed to have "no patience" with men and, as Smith wrote, "she also had 'no patience' with Hitler". Smith and Molly, raised in a family of women, became attached to their own independence, in contrast to what Smith described as the typical Victorian family atmosphere of "father knows best".

When Smith was five, she developed tuberculous peritonitis and was sent to a sanatorium near Broadstairs, Kent, where she remained for three years. She related that her preoccupation with death began when she was seven, at a time when she was very distressed at being sent away from her mother. Death and fear fascinated her and provide the subjects of many of her poems. Her mother died when Smith was 16.

When suffering from the depression to which she was subject all her life, Smith was so consoled by the thought of death as a release that, as she put it, she did not have to commit suicide. She wrote in several poems that death was "the only god who must come when he is called." Smith suffered throughout her life from an acute nervousness, described as a mix of shyness and intense sensitivity.

In the poem "A House of Mercy", she wrote of her childhood house in North London: It was a house of female habitation, Two ladies fair inhabited the house, And they were brave. For although Fear knocked loud

Upon the door, and said he must come in, They did not let him in.

Smith was educated at Palmers Green High School and at the North London Collegiate School for Girls. She spent the remainder of her life with her aunt, and worked as private secretary to Sir Neville Pearson at Newnes Publishing Company in London from 1923 to 1953. Despite her secluded life, she corresponded and socialised widely with other writers and creative artists, including Elisabeth Lutyens, Sally Chilver, Inez Holden, Naomi Mitchison, Isobel English and Anna Kallin.

After she retired from Sir Neville Pearson's service following a nervous breakdown, she gave poetry readings and broadcasts on the BBC that gained her new friends and readers among a younger generation. Sylvia Plath became a fan of her poetry and sent Smith a letter in 1962, describing herself as "a desperate Smith-addict." Plath expressed interest in meeting in person but took her own life soon after sending the letter.

Smith was described by her friends as being naive and selfish in some ways and formidably intelligent in others, having been raised by her aunt as both a spoiled child and a resolutely autonomous woman. Likewise, her political views vacillated between her aunt's Toryism and her friends' left-wing tendencies. Smith was celibate for most of her life, although she rejected the idea that she was lonely as a result, alleging that she had a number of intimate relationships with friends and family that kept her fulfilled. She never entirely abandoned or accepted the High Church Anglican faith of her childhood, describing herself as a "lapsed atheist", and wrote sensitively about theological puzzles; "There is a God in whom I do not believe/Yet to this God my love stretches." Her 14-page essay of 1958, "The Necessity of Not Believing", concludes: "There is no reason to be sad, as some people are sad when they feel religion slipping off from them. There is no reason to be sad, it is a good thing." The essay was unveiled at a meeting of the Cambridge Humanist Society.

Smith died of a brain tumour on 7 March 1971. Her last collection, Scorpion and other Poems was published posthumously in 1972, and the Collected Poems followed in 1975. Three novels were republished and there was a successful play based on her life, Stevie, written by Hugh Whitemore. It was filmed in 1978 by Robert Enders and starred Glenda Jackson and Mona Washbourne.

Fiction
Smith wrote three novels, the first of which, Novel on Yellow Paper, was published in 1936. Apart from death, common subjects in her writing include loneliness; myth and legend; absurd vignettes, usually drawn from middle-class British life; war; human cruelty; and religion. All her novels are lightly fictionalised accounts of her own life, which got her into trouble at times as people recognised themselves. Smith said that two of the male characters in her last book are different aspects of George Orwell, who was close to Smith. There were rumours that they were lovers; he was married to his first wife at the time.

Novel on Yellow Paper (Cape, 1936)
Smith's first novel is structured as the random typings of a bored secretary, Pompey. She plays word games, retells stories from classical and popular culture, remembers events from her childhood, gossips about her friends and describes her family, particularly her beloved Aunt. As with all Smith's novels, there is an early scene where the heroine expresses feelings and beliefs for which she will later feel significant, although ambiguous, regret. In Novel on Yellow Paper that belief is anti-Semitism, where she feels elation at being the "only Goy" at a Jewish party. This apparently throwaway scene acts as a timebomb, which detonates at the centre of the novel when Pompey visits Germany as the Nazis are gaining power. With horror, she acknowledges the continuity between her feeling "Hurray for being a Goy" at the party and the madness that is overtaking Germany. The German scenes stand out in the novel, but perhaps equally powerful is her dissection of failed love. She describes two unsuccessful relationships, first with the German Karl and then with the suburban Freddy. The final section of the novel describes with unusual clarity the intense pain of her break-up with Freddy.

Over the Frontier (Cape, 1938)
Smith herself dismissed her second novel as a failed experiment, but its attempt to parody popular genre fiction to explore profound political issues now seems to anticipate post-modern fiction. If anti-Semitism was one of the key themes of Novel on Yellow Paper, Over the Frontier is concerned with militarism. In particular, she asks how the necessity of fighting Fascism can be achieved without descending into the nationalism and dehumanisation that fascism represents. After a failed romance the heroine, Pompey, suffers a breakdown and is sent to Germany to recuperate. At this point the novel changes style radically, as Pompey becomes part of an adventure/spy yarn in the style of John Buchan or Dornford Yates. As the novel becomes increasingly dreamlike, Pompey crosses over the frontier to become a spy and soldier. If her initial motives are idealistic, she becomes seduced by the intrigue and, ultimately, violence. The vision Smith offers is a bleak one: "Power and cruelty are the strengths of our lives, and only in their weakness is there love."

The Holiday (Chapman and Hall, 1949)
Smith's final novel was her own favourite, and is her most fully realised. It is concerned with personal and political malaise in the immediate post-war period. Most of the characters are employed in the army or the civil service in post-war reconstruction, and its heroine, Celia, works for the Ministry as a cryptographer and propagandist. The Holiday describes a series of hopeless relationships. Celia and her cousin Caz are in love, but cannot pursue their affair since it is believed that, because of their parents' adultery, they are half-brother and half-sister. Celia's other cousin Tom is in love with her, Basil is in love with Tom, Tom is estranged from his father, Celia's beloved Uncle Heber, who pines for a reconciliation; and Celia's best friend Tiny longs for the married Vera. These unhappy, futureless but intractable relationships are mirrored by the novel's political concerns. The unsustainability of the British Empire and the uncertainty over Britain's post-war role are constant themes, and many of the characters discuss their personal and political concerns as if they were seamlessly linked. Caz is on leave from Palestine and is deeply disillusioned, Tom goes mad during the war, and it is telling that the family scandal that blights Celia and Caz's lives took place in India. Just as Pompey's anti-Semitism is tested in Novel on Yellow Paper, so Celia's traditional nationalism and sentimental support for colonialism are challenged throughout The Holiday.

Poetry
Smith's first volume of poetry, the self-illustrated A Good Time Was Had By All, was published in 1937 and established her as a poet. Soon her poems were found in periodicals. Her style was often very dark; her characters were perpetually saying "goodbye" to their friends or welcoming death. At the same time her work has an eerie levity and can be very funny though it is neither light nor whimsical. "Stevie Smith often uses the word 'peculiar' and it is the best word to describe her effects" (Hermione Lee). She was never sentimental, undercutting any pathetic effects with the ruthless honesty of her humour.

"A good time was had by all" - the title of Smith's first collection - itself became a catch phrase, still occasionally used to this day. Smith said she got the phrase from parish magazines, where descriptions of church picnics often included this phrase. This saying has become so familiar that it is recognised even by those who are unaware of its origin. Variations appear in pop culture, including "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" by the Beatles.

Though her poems were remarkably consistent in tone and quality throughout her life, their subject matter changed over time, with less of the outrageous wit of her youth and more reflection on suffering, faith and the end of life. Her best-known poem is "Not Waving but Drowning". She was awarded the Cholmondeley Award for Poets in 1966 and won the Queen's Gold Medal for poetry in 1969. She published nine volumes of poems in her lifetime (three more were released posthumously).

As an occasional work, Smith wrote the text of the coffee-table book Cats in Colour (1959), for which she wrote a humorous series of captions to photographs imagining the inner lives of cats.

Smith's poems have been the focus of writers and critics around the world. James Antoniou writes in The Australian that her 'apparent innocence masks such fierce complexities, such ambition and startling originality, that many people baulk at her work', while Michael Dirda affirms in The Washington Post that, 'certainly, an outward charm is part of Smith's aesthetic strategy, though there’s nothing naive or whimsical beneath her surface.' Carol Rumens writes in The Guardian that Smith 'skewered formality, though formally deft, and challenged, with a Victorian school marm's brisk tartness, the lingering shades of late-Victorian social hypocrisy.'

In 2023, newly declassified UK government files revealed that Smith was considered as a candidate to be the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1967 following the death of John Masefield. She was rejected after appointments secretary John Hewitt consulted with Dame Helen Gardner, the Merton Professor of English at the University of Oxford (who stated that Smith "wrote 'little girl poetry' about herself mostly") and Geoffrey Handley-Taylor, chair of The Poetry Society (who stated that Smith was "unstable").

Novels

 * Novel on Yellow Paper (Cape, 1936)
 * Over the Frontier (Cape 1938)
 * The Holiday (Chapman and Hall, 1949)

Poetry collections

 * A Good Time Was Had By All (Cape, 1937)
 * Tender Only to One (Cape, 1938)
 * Mother, What Is Man? (Cape, 1942)
 * Alone in the Woods (Cape, 1947)
 * Harold's Leap (Cape, 1950)
 * Not Waving but Drowning (Deutsch, 1957)
 * Selected Poems (Longmans, 1962) includes 17 previously unpublished poems
 * The Frog Prince (Longmans, 1966) includes 69 previously unpublished poems
 * The Best Beast (Longmans, 1969)
 * Two in One (Longmans, 1971) reprint of Selected Poems and The Frog Prince
 * Scorpion and Other Poems (Longmans, 1972)
 * Collected Poems (Allen Lane, 1975)
 * Selected Poems (Penguin, 1978)
 * New Selected Poems of Stevie Smith (New Directions, 1988)
 *  Come on Come Back 1972
 * The Collected Poems and Drawings of Stevie Smith (Faber and Faber, 2015)
 * All the Poems of Stevie Smith (New Directions, 2016)

Other

 * Some Are More Human Than Others: A Sketch-Book (Gaberbocchus Press, 1958)
 * Cats in Colour (Batsford, 1959)
 * Me Again: Uncollected Writings of Stevie Smith (Virago, 1984)
 * "The Necessity of Not Believing" (Gemini No. 5, Spring 1958, Vol. 2, No. 1)

Profiles

 * Smith Profile, poems and audio files at the Poetry Archive. Retrieved 12 December 2010
 * Smith profile at Academy of American Poets. Retrieved 12 December 2010
 * Smith profile at Poetry Foundation. Poems and bibliography. Retrieved 12 December 2010

Archive

 * Stevie Smith papers. Archive at University of Tulsa McFarlin Library's in special collections department. Retrieved 12 December 2010
 * Five autograph and typewritten poems by Stevie Smith at the British Library. Retrieved 22 June 2020
 * The Stevie Smith Papers at Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved 12 December 2010

Works

 * Stevie Smith reading "Not Waving But Drowning", BBC (includes poem text and poet's photo). Retrieved 12 December 2010
 * Author profile for Stevie Smith, LibraryThing. Retrieved 12 December 2010
 * "Pretty" by Stevie Smith from The Times, 13 May 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2010
 * , Retrieved 28 June 2011

title: Stevie Smith


text:
Talk:Time-out (parenting)

Parent time-out
The actual idea behind time-out is to get the parent to cool-off.
 * Actually the original idea was time-out from reinforcement. The typical time-out procedure involves the parent relocating the child, and there have been cases of abuse and injury while an angry parent was trying to physically relocate a non-cooperative child - therefore the parent needs be calm in the first place if relocation is part of the procedure.

They are the real problem in a confrontation. It's rare that children need to "cool off".

The theory behind adult time-outs is that you deprive the child of your attention. Of course, in our electronic gadget society where children hardly ever see their parents anyways, that accomplishes nothing. So as a replacement for spending time with one's child and paying attention to them most of the time, someone invented the "child time-out" as a form of punishment instead. This is not an acceptable trade-off and that's why child time-outs are bad. They're still better than physical abuse of course. -- Ark

-- Ed Poor, Tuesday, June 11, 2002
 * 1) Getting the parent to cool off, as when they're angry enough to administer a brutal spanking, is a desireable side-effect of the approach. The object is, as practioners of the time-out technique believe, to teach the children good behavior. I concede, of course, that for abusive parents the technique (of putting either oneself or one's child in time-out) provieds valuable cooling-off time for the parent. Thus an excellent rule-of-thumb for a violent person is: if you feel like hitting a kid, put him in time-out immediately.
 * 2) My experience using time-out as a Sunday-school teacher, babysitter, and father of two: whatever I put them in time out for, occurs less and less to the point of extinction. I took over a class of a dozen unruly kids, which took nearly half the time of two grown women to control. Within 5 weeks of Sundays, I had those kids "eating out of my hand" (as one parent remarked). I was inspired by watching Kindergarten Cop to be unfailing strict in discipline, but I used only time-out. Aside from disobeying the teacher, the 3 main no-no's were: hitting (someone), grabbing (something from someone), or teasing. I included talking to or about a student in time-out, as "teasing." My class eventually grew so big that my friend Phillip suggested splitting it in half (he took the older kids). By that time, about 5 or 6 dozen kids in my church from the NYC metro area were calling me Uncle Ed. And it all came from being strict with time-out.

Consistency is of paramount importance, of course, and I much prefer that word to "strict".

There are many things which parents do which are abusive. There are many seemingly innocuous lines of justification they give for their actions which are anything but. I recall a parent who bemoaned their child's getting her church clothes dirty. The justification for punishing the child was that she had to "learn" to keep her clothes clean. This was very suspect because the parent was acting out of selfish motives; to not be embarrassed in public.

I consider kindergarten, nurseries and other such mass child care to be faintly wrong. If you used child time-out to get through the experience with a minimum of harm to the children, then this justifies your use of the technicque. But it doesn't justify the technique itself. I have ethical and moral misgivings to any parenting technique with the connotations of "training". -- Ark

 * Thank you for your thoughtful and thought-provoking comments. I'm going to print out this page and read it on the train home tonight. See ya. -- Ed Poor, Tuesday, June 11, 2002

Well, Ark, we certainly have identified where we disagree. That is an excellent starting point for an article on child rearing (or child care perhaps).

You describe child time-out as a technique that enabled me to get through my experience, but which is only justified to the extent that it inflicted minimum harm on the children. Am I restating your view correctly?

I found I had 3 alternatives:
 * 1) Let the two ladies run the class, frequently yelling at the children to maintain order, or
 * 2) Take over the class and yell at the children myself, or
 * 3) Put the unruly children in time-out.

No doubt you can suggest other alternatives, but these were the ones that I considered at the time (over ten years ago).

The result of my consistently applying the time-out technique was that my class became very orderly. The children did not:
 * get hit, kicked, pushed, knocked down, etc., by anyone
 * did not have their seats, turns, belongings or resources grabbed from them by anyone
 * did not get teased by anyone

That is to say, the unruly behaviors diminished to the point of near-extinction. More than once, an entire 2-hour class would go by without my placing a single child in time-out. They had, I believed, internalized the rules.

I applied these rules to myself as well, and a couple of times I (rather dramatically) placed myself in time-out for an infraction. I've often wondered whether making the rules universal (i.e., applying to the rule-giver as well as to the ruled) gave me an edge.

Anyway, I found to my surprise and delight that, despite being then a bachelor with hardly any experience with kids, I could handle over a dozen children at once. Moreover, they themselves seemed to enjoy my classes.

Have I hit on something useful and valuable, or was I deluding myself while creating an evil empire like the Pied Piper of Hamelin? I look forward to more discussion on these points, especially if it provides material for more Wikipedia articles!

Ed Poor, Friday, June 14, 2002

Here's an interesting bit about the effects of inconsistent parenting. From EurekAlert:

The study, published in the journal's June issue, found that 60 percent of people lied at least once during a 10-minute conversation and told an average of two to three lies.

...

The lies the students told varied considerably, according to Feldman. Some were relatively minor, such as agreeing with the person with whom they were speaking that they liked someone when they really did not. Others were more extreme, such as falsely claiming to be the star of a rock band.

"It's so easy to lie," Feldman said. "We teach our children that honesty is the best policy, but we also tell them it's polite to pretend they like a birthday gift they've been given. Kids get a very mixed message regarding the practical aspects of lying, and it has an impact on how they behave as adults."

''Santa is a lie. So is "little Billy went away to this magical place called Heaven". I hate it when people lie to children. I especially hate it when they feel justified about it.''

This article sucks. It provides a how-to for an inhuman way to treat your loved ones. I´m sorry I´m not good enough in english to change it to the better. It seems like the people who invented this method and the authors of the article see children as property of the parents and not as human beeings with their own rights. Applying this technique against a grown-up wold be illegal in most countries. In sweden the crime is called "olaga frihetsberövande", no matter the age of the victim.

Response to Poor Ed: Thus an excellent rule-of-thumb for a violent person is: if you feel like hitting a kid, put him yourself in time-out immediately, and then go see a psyciatrist. Maybe you can get some kind om medication to help prevent your violent tendencies. If you do not get better, avoid beeing close to children. 83.183.64.115 (talk) 04:44, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Applying the technique. I couldn't stop smiling
Is this an encyclopedia topic or a do it yourself article? cuz the applying the technique seems to spring out as a naive way of teaching punishments. Not that i'm for or against its inclusion, just found it funny on reading it.--Idleguy 09:47, Jun 23, 2005 (UTC)

Americanism
Can someone please clarify on the page that this is an American practice (similar things may be done in other parts of the world or indeed the Anglosphere, but I don't believe they traditionally involve the same degree of regimentation or the use of such incredibly cringe-worthy terminology).

If I said "Take 5" to my child I would (quite rightly) be laughed at for sounding like a sports coach from some American television sitcom. --Breadandcheese 16:54, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

Rename to "time-out (child)"?
I think this page should maybe be moved to time-out (child), with additional redirects set from time-out (parenting) and time-out (education), because:

 * It allows editors to use the implicit piping of  with an empty pipe resolving to "time-out" without the parenthetical content -- rather than having to type
 * It is the standard Wikipedia naming scheme, in part because of the above point, and thus easier to remember

-- 62.147.37.94 17:48, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. BeakerK44 00:15, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Merger in of Naughty Chair
Although some would say that time out is not the same as the "Naughty Chair", surely this is the best place for this discussion rather than supernanny? Edgepedia (talk) 09:02, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

As a Wikipediaist and a parent I concur with Edgepedia. I second the merger to Child time-out. TriniMuñoz (talk) 04:39, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

What actually is time-out?
This page doesn't seem to say what "time-out" actually *is*. Everything on the page seems to assume you already know what it is. The quotes from Staats at the start of the third paragraph give examples, but don't really help me understand what a time-out is. I suspect (as someone mentioned above) that it's an American concept, and I've not really heard of it being mentioned or used here in the UK. I can kind-of guess what it is from context, from the name, and from the examples, but I think an encyclopaedia entry really ought to actually *say* what it is. Pippin (talk) 15:07, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Scandinavian Controversy and Standing in the Corner
I was interested in learning why Scandinavians find time-outs controversial and checked the reference, which led to: http://www.folkeskolen.dk/ObjectShow.aspx?ObjectId=31046. I translated it from the Danish using Google, and though it clearly wasn't a perfect translation, I got the impression that the controversy the article examined was standing in the corner, which I think has some differences from time-out. For one, at least when corner standing was practiced on me, there was a huge shame component involved whereas a properly done time-out, I think, doesn't have that, or at least far less of it. I think, therefore, the statement and the reference should be removed for now.

While writing this, I also tried looking up standing in the corner in wikipedia to see if it could shed light on this subject, but surprisingly, the article doesn't exist as far as I can tell.--RemiCogan (talk) 23:54, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

 * Going further, I translated the linked Swedish article. Again, google did just an okay job, but it sure looks like the article cites people claiming time-outs are essentially being put in the corner with a light veneer of legitimacy.  So the claim that time-outs are controversial in Scandinavia may hold weight, but the linked reference is inappropriate.  I don't know what the standard is on linking to an article in wikipedia in a different language, but I'm going to give it my best shot--RemiCogan (talk) 00:15, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: page moved. Vegaswikian (talk) 23:49, 8 December 2010 (UTC)

Child time-out → Time-out (Parenting) — This seems like a much better title, reflecting that people call it "Time-out" and never "Child time-out" and meets Wikipedia standard for disambiguating titles. Please comment on use of hyphens and capitals. D O N D E groovily  Talk to me  02:53, 2 December 2010 (UTC)

 * Support per nom except "parenting" should not be capitalized. What this subject is usually called is just time-out, and that's what the title should reflect.  That said, it needs disambiguation, and, so "parenting" seems most appropriate.   --Born2cycle (talk) 07:53, 2 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Support move to Time-out (parenting) per above. Mhiji (talk) 18:48, 2 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Support move, but it is correct that "Parenting" should not be capitalized. [|Retro00064|☎talk|✍contribs|] 08:09, 6 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Support move to Time-out (parenting) or to Time-out (punishment). – ukexpat (talk) 18:31, 6 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Support move to Time-out (parenting). (I think Time-out (punishment) would be a bit too strong.) --vgmddg (look | talk | do) 00:43, 8 December 2010 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Narrow
This article only explains chair time-outs. Time-out can also refer to the sending of the child to his bedroom, the bathroom, the car, or other room for isolation. Is this called by a different name? Ticklewickleukulele (talk) 19:11, 4 November 2012 (UTC)
 * That would be a good addition, if someone knows.
 * I checked to see if it was considered the same as what would be used with Dennis the Menace (U.S. comics), and given it is said to be invented in 1958 it can't be, since Dennis began in 1950. While it may have evolved into timeout as the culture changed, it was not at first.
 * The way Dennis is disciplined is more along the ways of punishment in the first few decades of the comic strip. In our family the room is used as punishment, and it was always "go to your room," not "timeout." In other families, it probably could be considered the timeout place. (Since we're in the funnies, I'll lead into my conclusion with this reference - once in Family Circus the 3-year-old, Jeffy, asks once, "How come you say go to your room, and other mommies call it timeout?")
 * What's the difference? Minutes per age looks like the key to calling it timeout. Can timeout *be* in a room? Probably. (Definitely in a car when out.) However, in our family "go to your room" is more like punishment, just like kids who get the corner chair as such, it started out as 3 minutes, then 5, then 7, then 10. 15 is about the most, and it doesn't go by age but instead by whether it's working. We've never had to go above 15 and usually not above 10, but every kid is a bit different as far as how well they'll behave.
 * Sorry, I got off track. Anyway, I think thekey here is the minutes per age and the cooling down idea.99.109.55.140 (talk) 19:36, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Figure of college student
The photo of a barefoot college student in a corner of a classroom for "cheating on a quiz" does not, in my personal experience, represent a typical time-out in the context of parenting. Would be nice to get a better figure. Bert303 (talk) 05:22, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Seconded. I'm a lecturer at a state university in the US and students aren't sent to a corner for cheating on quizzes. The student would be either spoken to after they turned in the quiz at a later date or quietly asked by the professor to speak with them in the hallway. Then the matter would be referred to the Dean of Student's office. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.222.63.239 (talk) 09:27, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Time-out (parenting)