The first goal of the course is to learn as much as possible about past women's lives simply because it is a past worth studying--the story of half of humankind. However, you will find that what you learn about the past will also inform your understanding of the present. Some of the issues faced by women hundreds of years ago are still unresolved today; others have changed dramatically. Thus, another goal is to understand the present better by learning the origins of current issues and concerns. My perspective in teaching this course is explicitly feminist. I see the oppression of women to be a basic pattern in history, and I propose that we study it in order both to understand its origins and to identify ways of fighting it in the present. While women's past oppression provides a sense of unity to their experience, it would be wrong to think of western European women as a universal category with one common life experience. It is also a goal of this course to be aware of differences among women and to examine the sources of those differences: social status, age, marital status, religion, etc.
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This course also fulfills one of the college's general education requirements. It carries HUMAN credit, since it teaches historical thinking, a central aspect of the humanities. The History Department has asserted in our mission statement (printed in the college catalog) that we desire above all that our students learn to think historically, which we believe includes:
- understanding change and continuity over time;
- appreciating the importance of historical context;
- knowing how to interpret and critique primary and secondary sources;
- being able to construct arguments based on historical evidence;
- understanding the varieties of approaches employed by historians;
- developing an appreciation for the histories of different regions, societies and time periods;
- developing an understanding of the past as the past and of its importance in the present.
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This course has been designed explicitly with these things in mind. By the end of the semester, you should feel not only that you understand better what it means to be an historian but also that you can yourself begin to use the historian's skills and approaches.
Fundamental to a liberal arts education as understood by Gustavus Adolphus College is a commitment to encourage students to be critical thinkers who can communicate their ideas effectively in written and spoken language. In this course, through discussions, papers and exams, you will be challenged to continue the life-long process of growing as a critical thinker and communicator. By the end of the semester, you should feel that your mind has been stretched--that you have been challenged to think critically about ideas and sources. You should also feel that you have had the opportunity to improve both your writing and your speaking (formal and informal). As women in the past struggled to find a voice, and historians today struggle to find traces of those women's voices now, all students are called upon to find their own voices in this class and let those voices be heard and leave their mark.
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Graded Requirements: As with much in life, the first thing you need to do is show up. Attendance is expected at all class meetings. (My attendance policy is explained below.) But just showing up isn't enough! Informed participation in all class discussions is essential to the process of active learning. The reading on which discussions will be based will be indicated in the calendar below. I reserve the right to use quizzes to check on your preparation. Your participation in class (its quality, not its frequency) will be worth 20% of your final grade. There will be three exams, taken outside of class at a time of your own choice on designated exam days. On the calendar below, you will see when those are. There will also be two papers. On the calendar, you will see when the papers are due. (Click here for the paper assignments.) I will drop the lowest grade that you receive on a paper or exam; the remaining four grades will each be worth 20% of your final course grade.
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detail from Judith Beheading Holofernes
by Artemesia Gentileschi
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Fair warning: Failure to take all exams, submit all required papers, and/or a pattern of failure to complete reading assignments, attend class, or engage in informed participation will result in an F for the course. If you have a problem, please see me before it becomes a crisis!
Attendance Policy: Excused absences are those required by illness, personal/family emergency, or conflicts caused by documented participation in a college-sponsored activity. (The supervising faculty member is required by college policy to provide you with a letter for your instructors spelling out the dates, times and details of necessary absences for such activities.) I consider no more than three absences for college activities to be reasonable; if it needs to be more, see me early in the semester. Make-up exams and paper extensions will always be possible in cases of excused absences. I may ask you to provide documentation to support any excused absences, especially if they are regular occurrences. Please, don't be offended if I ask. Unexcused absences happen. However, more than two unexcused absences may result in a reduction in your final grade; a pattern of unexcused absences will result in an F.
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Self-Portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola
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Additional Policies:
1. Be familiar with the college's expectations concerning academic honesty, printed in the current academic catalog. Violations will result in appropriate consequences, which may include filing a report with the Dean's office and a failing grade.
2. If you have a diagnosed learning disability or any health situation (physical or mental) that might have an impact on your ability to complete your assignments, it is your responsibility to let me know about it at the beginning of the semester. I will make every reasonable accommodation.
3. Cell phones should be turned off during class. If you are expecting an urgent call, set the phone to alert you silently, and let me know that you may have to leave during class to take the call.
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4. If you borrow course materials from me or the library, you are expected to return them unmarked and undamaged. You will not receive a grade for HIS-228 until all borrowed materials have been returned, or damaged materials replaced.
5. Late arrival is sometimes unavoidable, and I would ordinarily prefer that you come late than not at all. However, late arrival is distracting and should be avoided. If it becomes a pattern, you may be locked out of the class. |
Calendar for the Semester
Readings that are on electronic reserve [er] are accessible through the library. Direct links to other electronic sources are provided whenever possible. Links have been checked as of February 12, 2004.
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UNIT ONE: FRAMING WOMEN'S WORLDS
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| Feb. 11 |
Women's History: What is it? Why study it?
Reading:
Gerda Lerner "Placing Women in History" [er]
Gerda Lerner, Why History Matters (excerpts in coursepack)
Judith Bennett, "Feminism and History" [er]
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| Feb. 13 |
Christian Teaching about Women Reading:
Genesis, 1:26-3:20
1 Corinthians 7:1-14, 25-34
1 Corinthians 11: 3-13
1 Corinthians 14: 34-5
Galatians 3: 26-8
Ephesians 5: 22-33
1 Timothy 2: 8-15
Tertullian, The Appearance of Women
Jerome, Letter 22 & Letter 128
Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence
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Illus. from Juan Valverde de Amusco, Anatomia del corpo humano (1560)
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| Feb. 16 |
Patriarchy, Law and Government
Reading:
Harris, English Aristocratic Women, 17-26
Primary sources (handout)
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| Feb. 18 |
Thinking about Women's Bodies
Reading:
Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen
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UNIT TWO: THE MATERIAL WORLD OF WOMEN
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| Feb. 20 |
Daughters |
Harris, 27-42
How the Goodwife Taught her Daughter
J.L. Vives & Thomas Becon
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| Feb. 23 |
Wives-to-be |
Harris, 43-59
Eric Carlson, "Courtship in Tudor England," History Today, August 1993 (handout)
Women in England c.1275-1525, pp. 103-124 [items 24-34] NOTE: This collection of sources is only available to subscribers; you must use a GAC network computer.
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| Feb. 25 |
Wives |
Harris, 61-87
Roger Hacket, "A Mariage Present" from Two Fruitful Sermons (1607) and
"The Householder of Paris" (handouts)
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| Feb. 27 |
Single Women |
Harris, 88-98
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March 1
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Woman giving birth: Illustration from Eucharius Rosslin, Rosengarten (1513)
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Mothers-to-be
Reading:
John Riddle, "Contraception and Early Abortion in the Middle Ages" [er]
Ulinka Rublack, "Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Female Body in Early Modern Germany" (click here for text)
Primary sources (handout) |
| March 3 |
Mothers
Reading:
Harris, 99-126
Lois Huneycutt, "Public Lives, Private Ties: Royal Mothers in England and Scotland, 1070-1204" [er]
The Countesse of Lincolnes Nurserie
Excerpts from Dhuoda, Handbook for William and Dorothy Leigh, The Mother's Blessing (handout)
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| March 5 |
Widows |
Harris, 127-74
Allyson Poska, "Gender, Property, and Retirement Strategies in Early Modern Northwestern Spain" [er]
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| March 8 |
Rural Work
Reading:
Barbara A. Hanawalt. "Peasant Women's Contribution to the Home Economy in Late Medieval England" and Judith M. Bennett, "The Village Ale-Wife: Women and Brewing in Fourteenth-Century England"
(coursepack)
Women in England, c.1275-1525, pp.167-71 [chap. V, items 1-4]
"The Servant Girl's Holiday"
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Detail from "June"
in Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
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| March 10 |
Urban Work
Reading:
Maryanne Kowaleski, "Women's Work in a Market Town: Exeter in the Late Fourteenth Century" (coursepack)
P.J.P. Goldberg, "Women in Fifteenth-Century Town Life" [er]
Darlene Abreu-Ferreira, "From Mere Survival to Near Success: Women's Economic Strategies in Early Modern Portugal" Journal of Women's History 13, #2 (Summer 2001) (click here for text) |
| March 12 |
Professions |
Merry E. Wiesner, "Early Modern Midwifery: A Case Study" (coursepack)
Case of Jacoba of Felice (1322) & intro to Jane Sharp, The midwife's book (1671): click here.
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| March 15 |
Composers and Artists |
FIRST MIDTERM DUE TODAY
Click here for information on artists on line. |
| March 17 |
Venetian courtesan and poet Veronica Franco |
Prostitution
Reading:
Primary sources |
| March 19 |
Nobility as a Career
Reading:
Harris, 210-240 (175-209 recommended)
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| March 22 |
The Midwife's Apprentice (entire) |
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UNIT THREE: THE SPIRITUAL WORLD OF WOMEN
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| March 24 |
Medieval Saints
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| March 26 |
Medieval Nuns
Reading:
Roberta Gilchrist, "The Archaeology of Female Piety" [er]
Primary sources |
Abbess Hildegard
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| March 29 |
Hildegard of Bingen
Reading:
Medieval Writings..., 3-26 |
| March 31 |
Mystics
Reading:
Medieval Writings..., 46-74, 120-206
Caroline Walker Bynum, "Fast, Feast, and Flesh: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women," Representations 11 (Summer, 1985): 1-25 (click here for text) |
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SPRING BREAK (FIRST ESSAY DUE APRIL 2nd)
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| April 14 |
Beguines and Recluses |
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| April 16 |
Margaret Smulders: A Case Study |
Harline, Burdens of Sister Margaret, 1-100
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SUNDAY April 18
4-7 PM
Banquet Room C |
DINNER SEMINAR WITH PROFESSOR KATHERINE L. FRENCH
Reading: Katherine L. French, " 'To Free Them from Binding': Women in the Late Medieval English Parish," Journal of Interdisciplinary History 27/3 (Winter 1997): 387-412 (click here for text); idem, " 'I Leave My Best Gown as a Vestment': Women's Spiritual Interests in the Late Medieval English Parish," Magistra 4/1 (Summer 1998): 57-77 [er]
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April 19
7:30 PM |
PUBLIC LECTURE by Prof. French in SSC 101: "Women in the Late Medieval Parish"
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| April 21 |
Margaret Smulders: A Case Study
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| April 23 |
The Impact of Protestantism
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Susan C. Karant-Nunn, "Continuity and Change: Some Effects of the Reformation on the Women of Zwickau" [er]
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UNIT FOUR: THE MENTAL WORLD OF WOMEN
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| April 26 |
Video: "A Room of One's Own"
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SECOND MIDTERM DUE TODAY
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| April 28 |
Earliest women writers
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| April 30 |
Christine de Pizan, The Book of the City of Ladies: 3-55, 62-81, 110-13, 114-22, 125-6, 134-5, 147-50, 153-6, 159-62, 170-6, 186-8, 200-2, 217-18, 224-7, 234-40, 251-7 |
Christine de Pizan
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| May 3 |
Women's writing, 1400-1700
Reading: Primary sources
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| May 5 |
The Querelle des Femmes
Reading: Primary sources
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UNIT FIVE: WOMEN ON THE MARGINS
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| May 7 |
Jews |
Natalie Zemon Davis, "Arguing With God" [er]
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| May 10 |
Lesbians and Cross-Dressers |
Jacqueline Murray, "Twice Marginal and Twice Invisible: Lesbians in the Middle Ages" [er]
Vern Bullough, "Cross Dressing and Gender Role Change in the Middle Ages" [er]
Marcus Rediker, "Liberty Beneath the Jolly Roger" [er]
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| May 12 |
The Poor |
Sharon Farmer, "Down and Out and Female in Thirteenth-Century Paris" American Historical Review 103, #2 (April 1998) (click here for text)
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| May 14 |
Criminals |
Ulinka Rublack, The Crimes of Women..., 1-42, 92-133
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| May 17 |
Criminals
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Rublack, Crimes..., 134-230
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| May 19 |
Witches and Heretics |
SECOND ESSAY DUE TODAY
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