This module is about gender in the making of the modern world. We examine historical voices and experiences through the lens of gender. We ask big questions: what is gender? What is sex? How is the body sexed and gendered in different times and places? How does gender intersect with race and class? But we root those explorations in specific stories and cases each week. We might, for example, think about how foot binding in China changed ideas about women's bodies, or track the cultural transformations that led the Republic of Ireland to legalize abortion in 2018 after decades of debate. We might ask how gender changed what counted as work in Early Modern England, or why trans women are at the heart of debates about civil rights in modern Brazil. Our learning will be organized around three core themes: body, work, and citizenship. We will examine how the links between modern sex, gender, and the body have been historically constructed. We consider how work has been historically gendered, and in what ways does the gendering of work recalibrate our definitions of work? Finally, we ask how is citizenship gendered in modern state making, and what are the implications for gender equality? These three themes will be interwoven throughout the module, which begins c1600 and ends with the contemporary world.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students should be able to:
Analyse and explain key events and historical processes relevant to the subject under scrutiny.
Analyse and explain reasons for and implications of these events and processes.
Identify the main scholarly views on the subject under investigation.
Work with an appropriate degree of learner independence to explain and analyse the material under scrutiny.
Communicate explanation and analysis of the subject clearly and effectively in writing.
Assessment
Assessment Methods & Exceptions
Assessment:
If the module runs in Semester 1: 2 x 2500 word essays (50% each)
If the module runs in Semester 2: 1 x 4000 word Take Home Paper (100%)