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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
Rabberman. Families serve as the basic building blocks of societies. Besides helping to distribute economic resources within a society, families reflect societies' values, norms, tensions and power dynamics through their structure. Furthermore, changes in the family's values, functions and structures mirror changes in women's roles and experiences, both inside and outside the home. Finally, families also serve as the repository for memories from generation to generation. In this course, we will explore some central debates and issues in the history of the family by focusing on case studies from England, France, Germany, and the United States from the medieval through the modern periods. How are families created and dissolved over time, and how did changes in these practices come about How did people make the decision to get married, and how important were affective ties and material considerations in this process How did past societies treat their children, and did love for children increase over time Which people, inside and outside families, exerted power over family members How did political and economic developments influence families' structure, function, and ideology What do the changing structure and purpose of families in the West tell us about changes in the role of the individual and the relationship between public and private in the West What do recent family histories tell us about the relationship between the past and the present, between individuals and ancestors, at the end of the twentieth century Class requirements will include participation in class discussion, in-class presentations, two short papers, and a 1520 page paper based on primary sources. Class readings will draw on works from women' studies, historical anthropology, social history, legal history, material culture, sociology, and literature, and will include both primary and secondary sources.
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3.00 Credits
Rabberman. Master in Liberal Arts course. From the 15th century through the 18th century, social tensions erupted in Europe and the colonies in the witch craze, a period when intense cultural concern over witchcraft was expressed through religious treatises and sermons, popular literature like pamphlets and broadsides, legal accusations, trials, and, in some cases, executions. Although scholars argue vehemently about the total number of people executed during the witch-hunts, their importance in understanding early modern beliefs and responses to social tensions is clear. In this class, we will explore historians' understandings of the causes underlying this cultural phenomenon. With special attention to gender, social position,and religious belief, we will join academic debates about the causes of these persecutions. We will also read some primary sources from the medieval through the early modern periods, including trial transcripts, sermons, and pamphlets. Were women the main target of witchcraft accusations and executions, and if so, was misogyny their most important cause What role did sexual norms and beliefs have in the way that accusations were framed Were there different patterns of accusation and executions across time and region, and if so, what social and cultural factors might explain them
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3.00 Credits
Rabberman. Master in Liberal Arts course. In this course, we will explore some of the most pressing, controversial, and intriguing questions that historians of sexuality have debated in the past few decades. Rather than simply debating changes in sexual practices over time, we will discuss the ways in which different societies in the past and present constructed sexual norms and understood normality and deviance in sexual terms. We will focus special attention on the following questions: To what extent are sexual identities constructed by different cultures, rather than simply being determined biologically What influence do social, economic, and political conditions have on social constructions of sexuality How have different societies used sexual norms to mark "natural" practices from "deviant" ones, and how are these norms connected to societies' power structures We will explore case studies from Classical Greece through the contemporary United States. Our readings will explore topics such as medieval and modern views of the body, gender, sexuality, and science; prostitutes in medieval and Victorian England; same-sex relationships from classical Greece to medieval Europe to the contemporary United States; expectations for sexuality within and outside marriage; hermaphrodites; and sexual deviants, among others. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions, and to complete short response papers and a longer research paper.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Staff. Master in Liberal Arts course. Do, or can, feminist theories have political effects in transforming the social and economic forms of women's subordination This course will focus on the debate within feminist theory between a politics of claiming identity or essentialism versus a politics of subverting gender norms. We will show how gendered bodies and sexual differences are constructed through various social practices and discourses. We will examine what kinds of resistance can be mounted against the forces that maintain gender oppression. For example, what are the effects of new reproductive technologies on a woman's freedom to control her body or on her continued subordination Lastly, by claiming sexual differences we will discuss how we will need to revise our concepts of justice, community, and rights.
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3.00 Credits
Staff. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or permission of instructor. An examination of the role of cultural institutions in shaping the images and self-images of homosexuals in Western culture. Because of their "invisibility", sexual minorities provide a unique example of the role of cultural stereotypes in socialization and identity shaping and can thus illuminate these basic communicational processes. Definitions and images to be analyzed (within a historical and cross-cultural context) are drawn from religious, medical, and social scientific sources, as well as elite and popular culture.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior only. Leidner. This seminar explores the conditions under which women become politically active and the relevance of gender to forms of activism, organizational practices, and choice of issues. Contemporary and historical case studies will examine women's activism in feminist and anti-feminist movements and organizations, in single sex-organizations devoted to a broad range of goals, and mixed-gender movements, including civil rights and trade unions.
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3.00 Credits
Burnham. Though families have been the subject of literary scrutiny at least since Oedipus Rexm Eugene O'Neil's magisterial Loong Day's Journey Into Night was arguably the first American work to look unflinchingly at the darker side of family life. In this course, we will read twentieth century novels, plays stories and poems (as well as some nonliterary theoretical works on gender) that show the family as a whole, albeit a fragmented whole. We will read stories by the Irish writers William Trevor and Edna O'Brien who show marriage in various stages of decay, as well as two short novels by the American Jane Smiley whose family survives their crises. We'll look at the relationship of neighborhood and family through stories by the African-American writers John Edgar Wideman and Toni Cade Bambara. Arthur Miller's "Death of a Saleman" and poems from Life Studies by Robert Lowell will let us examine family through the lens of America's obsession with success. Finally, we'll look at families with traditional homes, through Barbara Kingsolver's "The Bean Trees" and Marilynne Robinson's "Housekeeping." Several of the works on the list have been made into excellent films, and we will watch at least two. Brief weekly response papers will encourage all to participate in discussion. There will be a final comparative paper, and no exam.
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3.00 Credits
Valeggia. Prerequisite(s): ANTH 003. A seminar-style graduate and advanced undergraduate course designed to provide an overview of the latest advances in human reproductive ecology and the mechanics of writing a proposal. We will discuss readings and exchange ideas on the different directions that this relatively new discipline may take. As a way of reviewing the material and train ourselves to present our ideas to a funding agency, we will write individual research proposals.
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3.00 Credits
Diggs-Thompson. On the surface, domestic and factory workers appear to perform radically different tasks. However, if we explore the conditions surrounding their employment, we see that globally, women in these occupations share some very important characteristics. These include similar household status, similar economic motivation and financial goals, and, similar placement on the occupational ladder. Many domestic and factory workers are also migrants, and although they are often better educated than women of previous generations, the vast majority are underemployed. This course examines how new forms of production and the spread of global capitalism have impacted the lives of women. The course will also examine and critique previous and current theoretical constructs that have attempted to describe and explain the phenomenon. By also evaluating women in relation to their country or region of origin, we will compare how global economic, social, and political forces have created new and renewed forms of womens oppression. Through group projects and individual projects, we will research and evaluate the conditions of women engaged in domestic and factory labor, and look at how past, present and future global conditions affect women associated with and employed in these categories of work.
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3.00 Credits
Independent Study
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