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HIST 3630: Women and Gender in the Modern Transatlantic World
Overview
Debates about families, sex, and sexuality frame the outline of this course. Each of these subjects differed greatly for individuals in all parts of the Atlantic World, and immediately became points of contention in the clash of societies during the early modern era. The course traces key themes and questions in a variety of locations, mainly focused in West Africa (Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria), Europe (England and France), and North America (the U.S. and Mexico) since 1700. In addition to learning about historical subjectivities of people in the past, the course also explores historiography (that is, the history of history) as well as tools and techniques used in researching and interpreting the past.
Syllabus
Course Overview
"Women's history does not merely add to what we know; it changes what we know and how we know it.” – Stephanie Camp, Closer to Freedom
Women’s and gender history is not only a subject, but also a method. This course – a transnational and comparative examination of women, gender, and sexuality since (around) 1700 – explores both.
The relevance of the subject might be apparent to college students with access to Twitter. From the Women’s March to #MeToo, just in the year and a half since I last taught this course, the landscape of women’s history has shifted dramatically. It is becoming increasingly clear that questions of women’s politics, economics, health and medicine, and autonomy are still relevant and inspire spirited discussion and debate. As individuals across the globe contend with these questions, they often turn to history to find answers. As Executive Director of the American Historical Association Jim Grossman often says, “Everything has a history.” (You can Tweet in this vein along with the AHA: #EverythingHasaHistory).
For much of history’s history, some in the profession were not so sure women had a history. The field of women’s history came to the forefront alongside the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and became institutionalized in history departments in the decades following. Women themselves – some who were practitioners of women’s history, and some who were not – entered the historical profession in larger numbers, and many history departments hired their first female professors. Since then, further research has revealed that, indeed, women’s lives have changed dramatically over time. Since the 1980s, the field has expanded in multiple directions. “Gender” has entered the historical lexicon, too, as a key analytic that often but not always involves women. Though it has a different historical trajectory, in more recent years, “sexuality” has become a focal point of historical research, too.
Debates about families, sex, and sexuality frame the outline of this course. Traditionally, women’s history courses tend to focus on the question of suffrage (the right to vote). For example, the two-semester U.S. Women’s History Surveys tend to break into two parts at 1848 (the date of the Seneca Falls Convention). However, for many women, in most parts of the Atlantic World and including the U.S., suffrage was not the focus of their lives or of their attention. While many other topics might have been chosen as a thematic, families, sex, and sexuality is our focus for a few main reasons. Each of these and differed greatly for individuals in all parts of the Atlantic World, and immediately became points of contention in the clash of societies during the early modern era. Therefore, it comes to the forefront in historical sources where women can be found. This theme also becomes a launching point for comparison, which is essential in a broad course of this nature. Further, debates about sexuality and bodily autonomy remain unsettled in our present moment (this is not to say that questions of political rights are somehow resolved, or that we will not be studying them). It is striking that in the major women’s movements of the present movement, sexual autonomy is at the forefront (think of the pussy hats of the Women’s March, or the advocacy of survivors of sexual violence in #MeToo). While historians have typically shied away from presentism, we can examine the history of families, sex, sexuality and find roots of these contemporary concerns.
We could not possibly cover all of women’s, gender, and sexuality history in the Atlantic World since 1700 in sixteen weeks. This course is not comprehensive. Instead, we will trace out key themes and questions in a variety of locations, mainly focused in West Africa (Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria), Europe (England and France), and North America (the U.S. and Mexico). The geographic focus tends to get slippery, however, as many of these nations had empires that extended beyond their borders (we will read about Puerto Rico, for example).
Finally, studying women, gender, and sexuality has also required new historical methods. In addition to learning about historical subjectivities of people in the past, we will also explore historiography (that is, the history of history) as well as tools and techniques used in researching and interpreting the past.
Course Content Note
The content of this course is often challenging – intellectually, methodologically, theoretically, and emotionally. Discussing women’s and gender history is not easy, but it is (I believe!) necessary. With that in mind, be sure to practice self-care while reading, discussing, and engaging with the material. As the feminists in the 1960s and 70s liked to say: “The personal is political.” The personal is also historical.
In this class, we will be discussing historical events that many students may find disturbing or traumatizing for a variety of reasons. If you suspect some of the material might be emotionally challenging for you, I would be happy to meet with you to discuss concerns and accommodations before the content is covered in class.
Course Objectives
- At the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of major themes in women’s and gender history
- Describe the field of women’s and gender history and how research is conducted within it
- Explore intersectionality as a key analytic of women’s and gender history
- Analyze the concept of “gender”
- Locate and identify historical sources and scholarship related to the study of women and gender
- Critically evaluate these sources, both orally and in writing
This is an upper-division history course that emphasizes critical reading and writing skills. Some background in history is helpful for this course. We will often use class time for discussion. Therefore, it is essential that you complete the assigned readings before the start of class and come prepared to discuss the material and ask/answer questions.
Instructional Methods
Lecture
There are two lecture meetings per week, each lasting one hour and fifteen minutes. Lecture format will vary week to week, and may include a Power Point presentation that incorporates multimedia, interactive activities such as in-class discussions or group discussions, film presentations, guest speakers, and research tutorials. Do not expect to be lectured to for the entirety of each class! As an upper-division course, we will use class time for discussion and hands-on activities in addition to lecture.
Power Points will be posted on Blackboard at least an hour before class, so you may wish to print out or download the Power Point before class in order to take notes. Please note that the Power Points are quite sparse and do not contain many words.
Attendance Policy
Attendance is mandatory. You are expected to arrive on time and prepared for class. In order to be prepared, you must have completed the assigned readings in advance of class. I encourage you to attend class, as you will be expected to know the material for your papers and in discussion. It is your responsibility to make up missed material.
Participation
You will note bellow that “Participation” comprises 15% of your final grade in the course. I calculate the participation grade based on a number of factors, including:
- preparedness for class (arriving on time, with the required reading having been completed)
- listening to lecture and discussion and taking careful notes
- speaking up with questions during lecture
- engaging with in-class activities and group work
- visiting me during office hours to discuss your progress in the course, assignments, etc.
*If you are a shy or quiet person or are worried about participating in class for any reason, please come talk to me at the start of the term! We can find alternate arrangements to find another way for you to meaningfully engage in the course and not lose points!
Meaningful discussion is a core component of learning in this course. Respect for individual viewpoints and a willingness to listen and learn from others are key parts of historical study. Indeed, historians often disagree with one another. However, respect and civility are expected at all times.
A Note on Technology in the Classroom
While I understand the value of using laptops, tablets, and other devices to take notes, these devices can easily become distracting – not only to you, but to your peers and to me. Please only use technology for course-related purposes during class time, and do ensure that your cell phones are on “silent” and put away. Students who engage in disruptive behavior may be asked to leave the room. Do not record class without my express permission.
Readings
Required books (available for purchase, and on reserve at Stiern Library):
- Laura Briggs, Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico
- Margot Canaday, The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America
- Rachel Hope Cleves, Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America
- Pernille Ipsen, Daughters of the Trade: Atlantic Slavers and Interracial Marriage on the Gold Coast
- Peggy Pascoe, What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America
- C. Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
*Briggs, Canaday, Ipsen, and Snorton are all available as free eBooks from Stiern Library. See: http://csub.libguides.com/ALS
Additional readings will be posted on the course Blackboard site, noted as [BB].
You should bring all readings/reading notes assigned for the day with you to class, as you will want to refer to them as we discuss them.
Assignments
Short Papers – 45% (15% each)
You will complete three short (3-4 page) papers for this course. I will give you a prompt on Blackboard in the folder labeled “Assignments” two weeks before the due date. These papers will focus on course readings and not require additional research outside of assigned materials.
All three papers, unless otherwise noted, are due online via turnitin.com. You can use course ID 18849080 and password: Stango to enroll. Your assignments should be typed in Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced, with 1” margins. You must also turn in a hard copy to me at the start of class on the due date. Late papers will lose one letter grade for each day they are late, barring an emergency situation (in which case, you should confer with me ASAP).
The due dates are:
- September 24: Paper 1 due at 2:30pm on Turn It In and in class (hard copy)
- October 22: Paper 2 due at 2:30pm on Turn It In and in class (hard copy)
- November 26: Paper 2 due at 2:30pm on Turn It In and in class (hard copy)
Oral Presentation – 15%
Once during the term, you will be responsible for giving a brief oral presentation on a person or topic relevant to women’s and gender history. We will circulate a sign-up sheet on the second day of class to determine the date and subject of your presentation.
You should expect to give a five-to-ten minute presentation on this person or topic using research you have conducted yourself (that is, in your own words). You should not read to us the Wikipedia page for the person you have chosen. Expect to consult 2-3 scholarly, reputable sources to complete your presentation (you can use Wikipedia to find links to citations, perhaps!). If you want to play some music, show an image, etc., you can upload to the Blackboard Discussion Board ahead of class time, but you are not expected to create a formal Power Point presentation.
Following your presentation, which will happen at the start of class, you will turn in to me a list of sources you have used in preparation for your presentation (you can use Chicago Style, MLA, APA, etc.). Please also turn in your written remarks, even if they are in note/bulletpoint form, as well.
Final Paper – 25%
The culminating assignment for the course is a final paper of about 7-8 pages. This is not a research paper, but rather a reflection on the course materials and major questions we have covered throughout the term. More details about the final paper will be posted on Blackboard three weeks before the paper is due. There will be options to allow you to choose a topic to write about.
The final paper is due on Turn It In on Friday, December 14 at 2:00pm. There is no need to turn in a hard copy for this final paper. Late papers will not be accepted.
Assessment
I will calculate grades as follows:
- Participation: 15%
- Short Papers (3): 45%
- Oral Presentation: 15%
- Final Paper: 25%
I am serious about encouraging students to utilize my office hours. Any student who visits me during my office hours (or at an appointment outside of office hours) to discuss the course will receive an additional two points to their final grade for the course.
| A = 93-100 | B- = 80-82 | D+ = 68-69 |
| A- = 90-92 | C+ = 78-79 | D = 63-67 |
| B+ = 88-89 | C = 73-77 | D- = 60-62 |
| B = 83-87 | C- = 70-72 | F = 59 and below |
Grade Appeals
If you are unhappy with a grade you have received, you must wait 48 hours before requesting, via email, a grade appeal from me. During this time, please consider my comments and write a one-page document detailing why you believe your assignment or exam merits a different grade. In your email, please include this document. We will then meet to discuss your grade.
If you did not perform as well as you would have hoped on an exam or assignment, I encourage you to come see me during office hours so that we can discuss strategies for you to improve your grade on the next exam or assignment.
There is also a formal grade complaint and grievance procedure that we will follow if we cannot come to a satisfactory mutual decision about your grade. Details can be found here: https://www.csub.edu/academicprograms/Complaints%20and%20Grievances/index.html
Student Accommodations
Students with Disabilities
I am happy to help students with disabilities succeed in this class. To request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) as soon as possible. Their office is located in SA 140, and they may be reached at 661-654-3360 (voice), or 661-654-6288 (TDD). If you have an accommodations letter from the SSD Office documenting that you have a disability, please present the letter to me during office hours as soon as possible so we can discuss the specific accommodations to help you succeed in this class. Their website can be found here: https://www.csub.edu/ssd/index.html
Other Important Resources on Campus
These resources are free to CSUB students, and I encourage you to use them as you see fit:
- Counseling Center (in the Student Health Center) https://www.csub.edu/counselingcenter/
- Multicultural Alliance and Gender Equity Resource Center (Rohan Bldg., Student Housing West, First floor)
- CSUB Food Pantry and Food Distribution (near Parking Lot M) https://www.csub.edu/sustainability/food/
- Food Pantry has hours M-F throughout the term; check their website
- Food Distribution dates this term for grocery bags of fresh food: September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18
- Tutoring Center (Humanities Office Building, Rm. 115) https://www.csub.edu/admissionsandaid/student_support_programs/tutoring/
- Writing Resource Center (Administration Bldg. East, Rm. 105) https://www.csub.edu/wrc/
Contacting Me
I typically respond to email within 48 hours. However, please note that I will not have access to email at all times, especially at night and during weekends or holidays.
A Note on Academic Honesty
I take academic honesty very seriously, and I hope that you do, too. Please note that neither plagiarism nor cheating will be tolerated in this course. If caught plagiarizing or cheating, you will receive a 0 grade for the assignment or exam, and will be reported to the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities. If you are caught plagiarizing or cheating on any assignment or exam more than once in this course, you will automatically fail this course. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with what is considered plagiarism and cheating, but when in doubt, do come see me and ask. You are responsible for familiarizing yourself with CSUB policies: https://www.csub.edu/studentconduct/documents/academicintegrity.pdf
Course Schedule
Week 1
- August 27 – Introductions: Women? Gender? Modern? Transatlantic?
- August 29 – What is Women’s History?
- Reading:
- Joan Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis” [BB]
- Elsa Barkeley Brown, “‘What Has Happened Here’: The Politics of Difference in Women’s History and Feminist Politics” [BB]
- Sign-ups for oral presentation
Week 2
- September 3 – No Class: University Holiday (Labor Day)
- September 5 – #WomenAlsoKnowHistory
- Reading:
- Bonnie Smith, The Gender of History, p. 70-102 [BB]
- Laura Lee Downs, Writing Gender History, p. 9-42 [BB]
- Jeanne Boydston, “Gender as a Question of Historical Analysis” [BB]
Week 3
- September 10 –Monogamy, Polygamy, and Families of the Atlantic World
- Reading:
- Ann Marie Plane, Colonial Intimacies, p. 41-66 [BB]
- Selection of English laws via Gilder Lehrman Center [BB]
- Adam Ferguson, “An Essay on the History of Civil Society” (excerpt) [BB]
- Reading:
- September 12 – Gender, Marriage, and Family in the Transatlantic Slave Trade
- Reading:
- Ipsen, Daughters of the Trade, p. 1-83
- Jennifer Morgan, “Some Could Suckle over Their Shoulder”: Male Travelers, Female Bodies, and the Gendering of Racial Ideology, 1500-1770” [BB]
- In-class activity: Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, www.slavevoyages.org
- Reading:
Week 4
- September 17 – Sex Difference and the Gendered Division of Labor
- Readings:
- Ipsen, Daughters of the Trade, p. 84-140
- Kathleen Brown, “‘Changed… into the Fashion of a Man’: The Politics of Sexual Difference in a Seventeenth-Century Anglo-American Settlement” [BB]
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Emile” (excerpt) [BB]
- Readings:
- September 19 – Masculinity, Marriage, and Empire Building
- Readings:
- Ipsen, Daughters of the Trade, p. 141-174
- Miroslava Chávez-García, Negotiating Conquest, p. 3-24 [BB]
- Readings:
Week 5
- September 24 – Women and Early Modern Authorities
- Readings:
- Ruth Bloch, Rape and Sexual Power in Early America, p. 126-162 [BB]
- Sor Juana, “On Men’s Hypocrisy” [BB]
- Testimony of Anne Hutchinson [BB]
- Paper 1 due
- Readings:
- September 26 – Atlantic Revolutions
- Readings:
- Linda Kerber, “The Republican Mother: Women and the Enlightenment – An American Perspective” [BB]
- Suzanne Desan, “‘War Between Brothers and Sisters’: Inheritance Law and Gender Politics in Revolutionary France” [BB]
- Abigail Adams letter [BB]
- Olympe de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen” [BB]
- Readings:
Week 6
- October 1 – The Rights of Women
- Readings:
- Karen Offen, “How (and Why) the Analogy of Marriage with Slavery Provided the Springboard for Women’s Rights Demands in France, 1640-1848,” in Kathryn Kish Sklar and James Bewer Stewart, eds., Women’s Rights and Transatlantic Antislavery in the Era of Emancipation, p. 57-81 [BB]
- Mary Wollstonecraft, “Vindication of the Rights of Women” [BB]
- Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes” [BB]
- Readings:
- October 3 – Marriage and Sexuality at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century
- Readings:
- Cleves, Charity and Sylvia, p. ix-109
- Letters from Addie Brown to Rebecca Primus, in Farah Jasmine Griffith, Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends, p. 18-25 [BB]
- Inheritance records from colonial Liberia [BB]
- Readings:
Week 7
- October 8 – Slavery and Sexual Violence
- Readings:
- Snorton, Black on Both Sides, p. vii-54
- Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (excerpts) [BB]
- Readings:
- October 10 – Beyond Separate Spheres
- Readings:
- Cleves, Charity and Sylvia, p. 110-204
- Frances Calderón de la Barca, “Women and War in Mexico” [BB]
- Cherokee women’s petitions [BB]
- Readings:
Week 8
- October 15 – Abolition and Women’s Rights
- Readings:
- Clare Midgley, “British Abolition and Feminism in Transatlantic Perspective,” in Kathryn Kish Sklar and James Bewer Stewart, eds., Women’s Rights and Transatlantic Antislavery in the Era of Emancipation, p. 121-142 [BB]
- In-Class Activity: Patchwork readings (Your specific reading determined on Oct. 10)
- Maria Stewart, “Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall”
- Angelina Grimké, “Letter to Jane Smith”
- Catharine Beecher, “Essay on Slavery and Abolitionism”
- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, “Speech at the Eleventh Women’s Rights Convention”
- Readings:
- October 17 – Marriage and Race-Making
- Readings:
- Pascoe, What Comes Naturally, p. 1-130
- Kristin Mann, “The Dangers of Dependence: Christian Marriage among Elite Women in Lagos Colony, 1880-1915” [BB]
- Sarah Winnemucca, Life Among the Paiutes (excerpt) [BB]
- Readings:
Week 9
- October 22 – Masculinity and Empire
- Readings:
- Gail Bederman, Manliness and Civilization, p. 170-215 [BB]
- Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden”
- Paper 2 due
- Readings:
- October 24 – Progressivism and the New Woman
- Readings:
- Briggs, Reproducing Empire, p. 1-73
- Sarah Grand, “The New Woman and the Old” [BB]
- Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House (excerpt) [BB]
- Readings:
Week 10
- October 29 – Sexuality and Citizenship
- Readings:
- Canaday, The Straight State, p. 1-134
- Pascoe, What Comes Naturally, p. 131-159
- Readings:
- October 31 – Women’s Suffrage
- Readings:
- Cliona Murphy, “A Problematic Relationship: European Women and Nationalism” [BB]
- Emmeline Parkhurst, “Why We Are Militant”[BB]
- Mary Church Terrell, A Colored Woman in the White World (excerpt) [BB]
- Readings:
Week 11
- November 5 – Eugenics
- Readings:
- Briggs, Reproducing Empire, p. 74-161
- The Woman Rebel [BB]
- Buck v. Bell documents [BB]
- Readings:
- November 7 – Wartime
- Readings:
- Canaday, The Straight State, p. 137-173
- Elizabeth Escobedo, “The Pachuca Panic: Sexual and Cultural Battlegrounds in World War II Los Angeles” [BB]
- Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (excerpts) [BB]
- Oral histories of women in the War [BB]
- Readings:
Week 12
- November 12 – No Class: University Holiday (Veteran’s Day)
- November 14 – Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in the Cold War
- Readings:
- Snorton, Black on Both Sides, p. 139-175
- Canaday, The Straight State, p. 137-213
- Cookie Woolner, “LGBT – A Historiographical Survey” [BB]
- Alfred Kinsey, “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” (excerpt) [BB]
- Readings:
Week 13
- November 19 – Women, Gender, and Civil Rights
- Readings:
- Pascoe, What Comes Naturally, p. 205-287
- Danielle McGuire, “‘It Was like All of Us Had Been Raped’: Sexual Violence, Community Mobilization, and the African American Freedom Struggle” [BB]
- Fannie Lou Hamer, “Testimony Before the Credentials Committee, DNC” [BB]
- Readings:
- November 21 – Online Activity (no in-class meeting)
- Film: Watch She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry (available online and also on reserve at Stiern Library)
Week 14
- November 26 – Second Wave Feminism
- Readings:
- Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (excerpt) [BB]
- Radicalesbians, “The Woman-Identified Woman” [BB]
- Paper 3 due
- Readings:
- November 28 – Regulating Families in the Postwar Era
- Film – No Más Bebés (in class)
- Readings:
- Briggs, Reproducing Empire, p. 162-209
Week 15
- December 3 – “All the Women are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave”
- Readings:
- Snorton, Black on Both Sides, p. 177-198
- The Combahee River Collective, “A Black Feminist Statement” [BB]
- Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” [BB]
- Leslie Marmon Silko, “Storyteller” [BB]
- Readings:
- December 5 – Global Politics and the American Empire
- Readings:
- Saba Mahmood, “Feminism, Democracy, and Empire: Islam and the War of Terror” [BB]
- Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera (excerpt) [BB]
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “We Should All Be Feminists” (film clip) [BB]
- Readings:
Week 16
- December 10 – Women, Gender, and Sex for a New Millennium
- Readings:
- Zoe Leonard, “I Want a Dyke for President” [BB]
- Leymah Gbowee, Mighty Be Our Powers (excerpt) [BB]
- Kimberlé Crenshaw, “The Urgency of Intersectionality” [BB]
- Tera Hunter, “The Long History of Child-Snatching” [BB]
- Readings:
- Your final paper is your final exam and is due no later than Friday, December 14 at 2:00pm on Turn It In
About This Resource
The sample syllabus included here was submitted by a participant in a one-day virtual workshop entitled, "Teaching the Global African Diaspora" for world history teachers hosted by the Alliance for Learning in World History. This was a draft document that may subsequently have been revised in light of feedback and discussion during the event.
This resource was contributed by Dr. Marie Stango, Department of History, Idaho State University.