History 241 Women and Gender in Europe, 1200-1750

History 241 Women and Gender in Europe, 1200-1750

History 241—Women and Gender in Europe, 1350-1750

Fall 2018

Prof. Merry Wiesner-Hanks

Office: Holton 316

e-mail:

Mondays, September 10-December 10 3:30-6:10 pm Bolton B95

This course examines women’s lives and ideas about gender in Europe and European colonies during the period from roughly 1350 to 1750, a fascinating period of history that includes the Renaissance, the Reformation, voyages of exploration, the Scientific Revolution, and the witchcraze. We will be examining written and visual original sources by, for, and about women; watching several feature films about individual women from this era, including queens and peasants; and discussing sexuality, work, religion, family life, motherhood, consumer goods, music, art, and many other aspects of life.

In a course that surveys the lives of half the European population over half a millennium, we could easily get lost in generalities. In order to bring the material down to a personal level, we will focus part of the course on the lives of three very different women from the period: Queen Elizabeth I of England, perhaps the most famous woman who lived during this time; Bertrande de Rols, a French peasant whose life is only known to us because her husband, Martin Guerre, left her for many years and his place was taken by an imposter; Catalina de Erauso, a Spanish nun who put on men’s clothing and went to the New World, and then apparently wrote her memoirs. We will be reading materials from two of these women, and seeing films (somewhat fictionalized) on Elizabeth and Bertrande de Rols. The paper for this course will ask you to compare the lives of these women.

A central part of this course will be reading original materials from this time period by, for, and about women that capture women’s and men’s own views of women’s lives and situations and notions of gender. All of these will be on the course D2L site. The class will be conducted primarily in discussion format, and a share of your grade will be participation in class discussion. In order to participate you must obviously be in class; for that reason, I will take attendance every day, and your course grade will be affected by a significant number of absences. (Meaning more than two.) In order to participate effectively, you will need to do the readings, and to bring your books and other materials to class, as we will be referring to them regularly. In addition, every day before class (except for days on which there are no readings), you will need to post at least one question based on the readings in the drop box of the D2L site.

Required Readings:

Merry Wiesner-Hanks, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 4th edition NOT YET PUBLISHED, so on the D2L site

Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre (Harvard, 1983)

ISBN: 978-0674766914 (Available used from $1.44)

Catalina de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun: Memoirs of a Basque Transvestite in the New World (Beacon Press, 1997) ISBN 978-0807070734 (available used from $3.19)

Selections of original sources on the course D2L site

The main textbook for this class is one I wrote, which will be coming out in the fourth edition next year. The 4th edition chapters will all be on the D2L site. (The third edition was published in 2008; DO NOT BUY THIS.) Natalie Zemon Davis’ book on Martin Guerre and the memoirs of Catalina de Erauso are available through the UWM online bookstore and any other online bookstore. Used copies are fine.

Course Learning Goals:

  • You will gain familiarity with the history of women and gender in the period 1350-1750, a formative period of European and world history.
  • You will come to understand how gender and sexuality have been socially and culturally constructed into systems of power relations, and have intersected with other forms of identity and systems of power such as class, race, and ethnicity.
  • You will examine how and why the ideas and actions of individuals and groups have transformed gender over time.
  • Using written and visual original sources that present many perspectives, you will come to understand the varieties and complexities of people’s experiences in this time period.
  • You will develop your historical thinking skills—including issues of change and continuity, connection, context, and causation--as you formulate questions and contributions to class discussion; write an intellectually engaged, well-organized, and clear paper; and synthesize information from lectures, readings, and discussions into coherent and thoughtful written examinations.

Course Requirements and Grading

  1. Questions Based on Course Readings: 10% of course grade: By noon of the day before every class that there are readings, you are responsible to post in the Dropbox of D2L at least one question based on the readings for that day. Put your question(s) in the Comments section, and also upload them (or upload something) as a document, because D2L will not allow comments alone to be submitted through the Drop Box. These questions will be graded simply as submitted or missing; if you turn in questions on at least 11 of the 13 days with readings, you will receive an A on this segment of the course, 10 will result in a B, 9 a C, and 8 a D.

These may be questions about things that you don’t understand or find confusing, things you want to know more about, things that bother you in the readings, etc. Ideally these are to be questions that open up discussion, rather than closing it down, so they should not be answerable with “yes” or “no.” In general, analytical questions that begin with “why” or “how” are more interesting than those that begin with “who”, “what”, or “when.” I will use these questions to shape class discussion.

  1. Class Participation and Attendance: 25% of Course Grade: It is expected that everyone will contribute to class discussions. If speaking in public is difficult for you, let me know immediately and we will make arrangements for you to talk with me about the readings privately outside of class.
  1. Mid-term exam: 20% of course grade This will be a short answer and essay exam based on the first part of the course.
  1. Analytical Paper: 25% of course grade Specific instructions and grading standards attached.
  1. Final Exam: 20% of course grade This will be a short answer and essay exam based on the second part of the course.

Technology:

Cellphones need to be turned off and put away.

Laptops are fine for consulting course materials and note-taking, but not for off-task web-searching or Facebook updates during class. If you can’t keep from doing this when faced with a screen, print out course materials on paper to lessen the temptation.

Policies:

UWM policies regarding students with disabilities, religious observances, students called to active military duty, incompletes, discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment), academic misconduct, complaint procedures, and grade appeals can be found at:

http://www4.uwm.edu/secu/SyllabusLinks.pdf

Topics and Reading Assignments:

Week 1: Monday September 10 Introduction to Women’s and Gender History

Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, Introduction

Week 2: Monday September 17 Ideas about Women

Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, Chapter 1

Document Packet 1

Week 3: Monday September 24 The Female Life Cycle I

Women and Gender, Chapter 2, sections on childhood and adolescence, sexuality, sex before marriage and its consequences, and same-sex relations

Document Packet 2a

Week 4: Monday October 1 The Female Life-Cycle II

Women and Gender, Chapter 2, sections on marriage, singlewomen, pregnancy and childbirth, motherhood, widowhood and old age

Document Packet 2b

Week 5: Monday October 8 Bertrande de Rols, A French Peasant

Watch and discuss The Return of Martin Guerre

Read: Natalie Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre

Week 6: Monday October 15 Women’s Economic Role

Women and Gender, Chapter 3

Document Packet 3

Week 7: Monday October 22 Literacy and Letters

Women and Gender, Chapter 4

Document Packet 4

Week 8: Monday October 29 Midterm Exam

Week 9: Monday November 5 Gender and Power; Elizabeth I

Women and Gender, Chapter 8

Document Packet 8

Watch and discuss selections from Elizabeth

Week 10: Monday November 12 The Creation of Culture

Women and Gender, Chapter 5

Document Packet 5

Week 11: Monday November 19 Religion

Women and Gender, Chapter 6

Document Packet 6

Week 12: Monday November 26 Gender in the Colonial World

Women and Gender, Chapter 9

Document Packet 9

Week 13: Monday December 3 Catalina de Erauso, A Spanish Nun and Conquistador

Read: Catalina de Erauso, Lieutenant Nun

Week 14: Monday December 10 Witchcraft and Review

Women and Gender, Chapter 7

Document Packet 7

Sunday December 16 Final Papers Due in the D2L Dropbox by midnight

Final Exam: Tuesday, December 18, 10:00am-noon

History 241, Women and Gender in Europe, 1350-1750

Instructions for Paper

The lives of women in Europe during the period we are studying were similar to each other in some aspects, but differed greatly in others. We are examining the lives of three women in close detail, Bertrande de Rols, Queen Elizabeth I, and Catalina de Erauso. For your paper, imagine that you are one of these women, and both describe and explain your life to the other two. To do this effectively, you should use information from the original sources, secondary readings, and class discussion. You will need to think about what these three women shared, and how they differed, both individually and in terms of social class, religion, family situation, geography, etc. You may be as creative as you like in terms of format or language, so you could write this as a play, a blog, an interview, or a series of letters (or simply a narrative), but the information in the paper must be accurate. If you quote from any materials, you may indicate this by putting the page number and source in parentheses (e.g., Davis, p. 12, Erauso, p. 67). You do not need formal notes or a bibliography, and do not need to read any additional materials.

The due date for this paper is Sunday December 16, in the D2L Dropbox by midnight. Please be sure to set aside sufficient time in your schedule now to complete quality work in a timely manner. If you would like me to read a rough draft of your paper, you will need to have that to me by Sunday December 9. I will have it back to you by Wednesday of that week so that you have time to make revisions. The paper should be 10-15 pages double-space, typed with standard margins and font sizes. Out of fairness to those who turn in their papers on time, and to encourage a healthy respect for deadlines, papers will be graded down a whole letter grade for every day they are late. These rules will be suspended only in instances of documentable medical emergency or personal tragedy. If such a situation occurs, please notify me as soon as possible.

Grading Standards for the Papers:

The “A” Range: Your work is superior, well above an average level of competence for an introductory class. This means:

  1. You show a high level of intellectual engagement with the issues, and have clearly thought about the materials to a level that allows you to draw your own conclusions and make your own points.
  2. You make effective use of the information in the original sources, textbook and class discussion to provide examples and points of emphasis.
  3. Your essay is coherent and well-organized. It is governed by a clearly formulated structure that the reader can follow throughout.
  4. Your writing is compelling, active, clear, and direct. If you choose to use an unusual format or language (Set this as an interview? Write it as a letter? Use early modern language? Write it in blank verse?) you maintain this in an appropriate way throughout the paper.
  5. The mechanics of your writing, i.e., your sentence structure, word choice, punctuation, etc., are both accurate and effective.

The “B” Range: Your work is good, above average, which means:

  1. Your essay shows you have thought about the issues. Generally speaking, you draw your own conclusions and make you own points rather than simply summarizing material found in the readings.
  2. Your essay brings in some reference to complexities in the issues involved and includes references to some readings and the class discussion.
  3. Your use of the sources and secondary materials is largely accurate and the paper is quite well organized.
  4. You have made an effort to achieve clarity and fluidity in expression and develop your ideas adequately.
  5. The mechanics of your writing are largely correct, and you have made an effort to use them to good effect.

The “C” Range: Your work suggests competence, but problems as well, which means:

  1. You may not have thought sufficiently about the issue or read the materials carefully. Your essay may simply repeat information given in the readings and make little or no reference to class discussion.
  2. Your argument is not expressed clearly and is difficult to follow. Logical connections between the paragraphs may be weak or absent so that the essay does not hang together and it may be difficult for the reader to understand your points.
  3. Your use of the sources is faulty or incomplete.
  4. Your style is not clear.
  5. Your grasp of the mechanics of writing may not be strong enough to allow you to say what you mean.

All of the above assumes, of course, that the work you turn in is yours. If there are any questions about this, you will be asked to discuss the analysis in your paper orally with me. Papers turned in which turn out to be the work of others are graded in the “F” range.

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