Encounters with Wild Children: Temptation and Disappointment in the Study of Human Nature

Michael Ungar is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at
Dalhousie University. He is the author of Nurturing Hidden Resilience in
Troubled Youth.

This volume by Benzaquén, a historian, is a fascinating survey of the
archival evidence regarding children who are raised by animals, or other
children like Genie, raised for 13 years in the confines of her room and
brutally neglected by her parents. Beginning with accounts of a child
discovered in northern Europe in 1341 who was raised by wolves, and
continuing with historical evidence across many different cultures,
Benzaquén shows how our fascination with these children has led to
their exploitation and even death. Along the way, she broadens the
discourse from one about wild children to an exploration of this
discursive element that has lodged itself in our collective Western
narrative. The wild child enchants us because of the potential of such
children to teach us about what children need (and don’t need) to grow
up healthy.

Benzaquén’s research is exhaustive and her writing crisp. The scope
of her book is comprehensive, covering places as diverse as China, the
United States, and Italy. There are stories of children raised by
gazelles, pigs, sheep, and—of course—wolves. Myth and fact are
carefully separated, only to be fused back together as Benzaquén
wrestles to consider what these children tell us about how we understand
children’s wild natures.

Not being a historian, I was a little disappointed not to see more
developed in the book an exploration of what this myth of the wild child
means to our attitudes toward children as less evolved beings. I am left
wondering what might happen if sociologists like Nancy Lesko met Adriana
Benzaquén, and what their conversation might sound like. The
under-socialized, perceived as under-evolved child is ultimately how we
cast all children, not just those raised by wolves. Benzaquén
challenges us to consider what civilization really means and whether (in
its human form) it is necessary for attachment and identity. Encounters
with Wild Children is a fascinating read.