Demography and discourse in transition:

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article is part of a broader research project which seeks to shed new light on Quebec's fertility decline between the 1850s and the 1950s, notably by breaking down barriers between cultural and economic explanations and between quantitative and qualitative analysis. It explores relationships between demographic trends and the public discourse around reproduction in the province at the turn of the twentieth century. Using a collection of articles selected from French-language periodicals published between 1870 and 1920, the article analyzes the reactions of certain public commentators to the prospect of fertility decline in this traditionally prolific province. They identify a shift in the public discussion of fertility in Quebec during World War I. Pride in and celebration of Quebec's large families was superseded in the dominant nationalist discourse by anxiety about diminished rates of reproduction and natalist exhortations to women who might be tempted to restrict their fertility. After documenting and identifying the reasons for this shift, the article discusses a current of opposition which appeared, if only briefly, in the pages of the controversial liberal weekly, Le Pays.