Stanford University HISTORY 41S: Not-So-Separate Spheres: Gender in Early Modern Europe - Syllabus Winter 2003

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	Title	Format	Added On
	Course Reader	HTML Document	6 Jan 2003
	Stanford Honor Code	HTML Document	11 Jan 2003

Not-So-Separate Spheres: Gender in Early Modern Europe

Instructor: Carol Pal email: cpal@stanford.edu Winter Quarter, 2002-03 History Building, Room 200-124 Tuesdays, 10:00-11:50 a.m. Office: 200-233 Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:00-2:30 or by appointment Course Website: http://www.stanford.edu/class/history41s Required Texts: Merry Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe Crawford and Gowing, Women's Worlds in Seventeenth-Century England: A Sourcebook Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre Course Reader Art: by Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentilesschi, Judith Leyster, Maria Sibylla Merian [on class web page] Films: "The Return of Martin Guerre" [on reserve] "A Midwife's Tale" [on reserve] COURSE OBJECTIVES The aim of this course is to interrogate historical perceptions of gender in the early modern era, and to develop a critical approach to primary source documents. We attempt to complicate constructions of ideal feminine behavior by examining the evidence that shows what women actually were up to. In addition to the ways in which major writers and thinkers saw women, we want to know - how did women see themselves in Europe and the British Isles from 1500 to 1800? If asked "what is important to you?" or "what do you do?" how might they have answered? And how do these answers then reflect back on our understanding of early modern men and masculinity? The result is a dialogue between the ideal and the real in contemporary sources. Using letters, court records, journals, art, and published treatises, we will follow this discussion as it develops. First, we explore the shared experiences of early modern women as persons with female bodies, as mothers, wives, and daughters. We encounter them next as working people, in their roles as merchants, farmers, midwives and healers. Finally, we look at the exceptional women - the scholars, artists, scientists, educators, litigants, witches, and mystics. We see them running businesses, negotiating legal systems, engaging in public debate, creating art, and healing the sick. And, as we investigate beyond the veil of the Victorian era's celebration of women's domesticity and "separate spheres," we find that perhaps the spheres of early modern women and men were not so separate after all. ASSIGNMENTS: (1) Weekly email responses (post on website) (2) Oral Presentations (3) Two short papers (First Paper: 4-6 pages. Second Paper: 6-8 pages) GRADING: Participation (class and e-mail) 35% Oral Presentations 15% Midterm Paper 20% Final Paper 30% GUIDELINES: ATTENDANCE at weekly class meetings is mandatory. All absences, except for emergencies, must be cleared in advance. For any class missed, students must turn in a 2-page critical essay on the readings assigned for that week's session; failure to do so will result in a participation grade of zero for that week. CLASS DISCUSSIONS will be based on that week's reading assignments, and on the class responses posted to the website. Readings will be taken from the assigned texts, or from the class reader; assignments from the reader are marked with an asterisk [*]. These will be supplemented with handouts from time to time. The focus of discussion will be the primary sources; the assigned articles and book chapters are there to help you think through your engagement with these sources. FILMS: We will have two movie nights. Students who are unable to come will be responsible for viewing the film on their own. ORAL PRESENTATIONS: Each week, two students will be responsible for leading off our discussion. This will entail making a short presentation of the primary source material (10 minutes or so) and then asking some questions to encourage and stimulate our class discussion. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: EMAIL RESPONSES are a forum in which to work out your initial engagement with the primary sources. They can be anything except a summary or book report - feel free to raise questions, give personal reactions, compare two or more primary sources, or do a close reading of one text that you find particularly intriguing. They should be about two paragraphs long. Submit them each week to the class website by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, so that I have time to read them all. They will not be graded - however, they will be an important component of your overall grade for participation. Each student will also be responsible for reading the responses of his or her classmates before coming to class each week. FIRST PAPER: This will be due in class on week 5; paper topics will be handed out in class two weeks before. The paper will be a primary source analysis. You will be asked to compare, contrast, and contextualize two or more primary documents on a given subject. SECOND PAPER: This will also be a primary source analysis, and your chance to explore a person or issue that you have found particularly interesting during the course of our reading and discussion. The paper will be due by noon on Monday of Exam Week. A rough draft will be required. Each student must meet with me before week 8 to discuss paper ideas. On week 9, come to class with 3 copies of your rough draft - one for me, and two for your colleagues. Drafts will be discussed in small groups on week 10, when I will also return your drafts to you with my comments. Each student is expected to come prepared to give helpful and thoughtful commentary. This will be an opportunity for each student to get peer feedback concerning his or her project. WEEK 1 (January 7): Introduction HANDOUTS: Timetable of European history 1500-1800 Primary documents: what are they? how does one read them? what is important? One short primary document Motel of the Mysteries (excerpt) We will begin with a discussion of the aims of this course, the structure of the syllabus, the definition of some key terms, and the choice of readings. We will briefly review the major events of the period in terms of politics, religion, and ideas, reflecting on how these processes might be interpreted or experienced through the lens of gender. There will also be a brief discussion of primary source documents, exploring the forms they might take, and the questions the historian must ask of them. We will look at one short excerpt from a primary document as an example. WEEK 2 (January 14): Bodies Wiesner, Women and Gender. Read "Ideas and Laws Regarding Women" (pp. 13-41), and "The Female Life-Cycle" (pp. 51-94) Crawford and Gowing, Sourcebook . Read documents and introductory material in "Bodies" (pp. 13-40), and "Sexual Experiences" (pp. 137-161) * Aristotle, "On the Generation of Animals," in Lefkowitz and Fant. (pp. 82-5) * "Early Christian Attitudes to Femininity," in Susan Groag Bell. (pp. 70-83) We begin by examining the one experience shared by all women of the early modern era - that of going through life in a body gendered female. We will read documents by ancient experts such as Hippocrates and Aristotle, whose opinions regarding female anatomy, reproductive function, and sexuality were influential for two thousand years. We will also read excerpts from women talking about their own bodies, and discuss the questions raised by the interaction of these sources. WEEK 3 (January 21): Families Crawford and Gowing, Sourcebook. Read documents and introductory material in "Marriage" (pp. 163-185), and "Maternity" (pp. 187-213) * "Childhood and Adolescence," in Mendelson and Crawford. (pp. 75-123) * "The Early Modern Period: Diaries and Letters," in O'Faolain and Martines. (pp. 234-243) * letters of Magdalena and Balthasar Behaim, 1582-1592, in Ozment. (pp. 11-14, 83-102) * "To The Ladies," by Lady Mary Chudleigh, 1703 HANDOUTS: Demographic charts (age at marriage, births, etc.) 17th-c. letters (TBA) FIRST PAPER TOPICS DISTRIBUTED Next we examine another experience common to the lives of most early modern women - that of family life. We will be looking at three kinds of sources to tell us about family life in this era - prescriptive writings (authoritative instructions to young women), demographic charts (analyses of statistical data concerning reproduction, life expectancy, etc.), and women's and men's own writings on the subject. How do they differ? Can you identify some of the sources of these differences? (think about class, gender, religion, institutional origin, nationality) Are there any particular patterns that emerge from the evidence? WEEK 4 (January 28): Midwives * "The Modest Midwife," in Fraser. (pp. 440-463) * "The Seventeenth Century (cont'd.)," in Aveling, 1872. (pp. 63-85) * "Introduction" and "August 1787," in A Midwife's Tale, by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. (pp. 3-71) HANDOUTS: from Jane Sharp, The Midwives Book, 1671 from Angelique du Coudray, Abrege de l'art des accouchements, 1769 The Midwife's Oath: License of Ellen Perkins, 1686 Elizabeth Cellier, A Scheme for... a Corporation of skilful Midwifes, 1687 Elizabeth Cellier, To Dr. -------- An Answer to his Queries ..., 1688 FILM: "A Midwife's Tale" The focus of week 4 is the early modern midwife, and the multiple ways in which she participated in the community. In addition to recording deliveries, our sources show midwives involved in healing, education, religion, and politics. We also see a profession undergoing major changes, as male physicians began to take over the previously female-only work of midwifery. It is important here to consider how a number of extremely significant issues (authority, income, modesty, community) were at stake in this process. WEEK 5 (February 4): Workers Wiesner, Women and Gender. Read "Women's Economic Role" (pp. 102-134) Crawford and Gowing, Sourcebook. Read documents and introductory material in "Work" (pp. 71-104) * from The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln, ca. 1717 (pp. vii-xi, 40-89) HANDOUTS: Stephen Duck, "The Thresher's Labour," 1730 Mary Collier, "The Woman's Labour: An Epistle to Mr. Stephen Duck," 1739 FIRST PAPER DUE IN CLASS In week 5 we explore the variety of ways in which women participated in the early modern economy. We will be learning about the types of labor that women shared with men (farming, family business, etc.), as well as those tasks that were specifically women's work. In particular, we want to think about the different sorts of information that can be gleaned from different types of sources. WEEK 6 (February 11): Witches Wiesner, Women and Gender. Read "Witchcraft" (pp. 264-283) * The Bull of Innocent VIII. December 5, 1484 * "Concerning Witches who copulate with the Devils," from The Malleus Maleficarum, 1487 HANDOUTS: "The Demographic Basis of Witchcraft" and "The Economic Basis of Witchcraft" from Carol Karlsen, The Devil in the Shape of a Woman (pp. 46-116) BEGIN READING: The Return of Martin Guerre In considering the witch hunts of the early modern era, we must again pay close attention to the different sorts of information that can be extracted from different types of sources. What is the story told by the Catholic Church, and how does this explanation interact with economic and demographic data? How can we trace cultural attitudes toward female anger, and how do women characterize their own rage? Whenever possible, it is important to note the intended reader for each type of document. WEEK 7 (February 18): Self-Fashioning finish reading The Return of Martin Guerre HANDOUTS: Robert Finlay, "The Refashioning of Martin Guerre," AHR 93 Natalie Zemon Davis, " 'On the Lame'," AHR 93 from Jean de Coras, Arrêt Memorable, 1572 from Michel de Montaigne "Of Cripples," 1588 FILM: "The Return of Martin Guerre" The Martin Guerre case presents a unique opportunity for historians because it is a sixteenth-century trial that is unusually well-documented and rich in ambiguities. For our own purposes, we can compare two primary sources, a historical monograph, a scholarly debate, and a film on the subject. This case touches issues of birth identity, chosen identity ("self-fashioning"), community, gender, family, and faith. WEEK 8 (February 25): Art and Science * from Boccaccio, Concerning Famous Women, ca.1350. (pp. 231-3, 275-7) * "Scientific Women in the Craft Tradition," in Schiebinger. (pp. 66-101) * "Maria Sibylla Merian: Metamorphoses," in N. Z .Davis. (pp. 140-202) HANDOUTS: short bios from Harris and Nochlin, Women Artists: 1550-1950 "Sophonisba Anguissola and her relations with Michelangelo" de Tolnay, 1941 ART: Sofonisba Anguissola, Artemisia Gentilesschi, Lavinia Fontana, Judith Leyster, Maria Sibylla Merian [on class website] DEADLINE FOR APPROVAL OF SECOND PAPER TOPICS The women and men who made their living with art or science were few in the early modern era. However, recent scholarship has identified a number of professional women artists and practitioners of science. How does knowing the identity of a producer change the way we look at a product? (or does it?) How does a field of endeavor, such as art or science, construct its practitioners, as well as its practice? WEEK 9 (March 4): Scholarship Wiesner, Women and Gender. Read "Literacy and Learning" (pp.143-171) * from The Book of the City of Ladies, by Christine de Pizan, 1405 (pp. 3-36) HANDOUTS: from Marie de Gournay, On the Equality of Men and Women, 1622 from Anna Maria van Schurman, The Learned Maid, 1659 Bathsua Makin, Essay to Revive the Ancient Art of Educating Gentlewomen...1673 letter from Dorothy Moore to Katherine, Lady Ranelagh on educating girls, ca.1659 BRING THREE COPIES OF ROUGH DRAFT TO CLASS Education for women was a vexed issue throughout this period. It was hard to justify educating girls beyond the bare necessities for their destined role in life, since their learning could find no ultimate use in a profession. Our sources, however, show us that there were indeed some very learned women in the early modern era, and arguments for female education were being mustered using appeals to history, virtue, desire, and practicality. What arguments and strategies can you discern in these writings? How is each one shaped by the writer's class, nationality, gender, or religion? WEEK 10 (March 11): Religion Wiesner, Women and Gender. Read "Religion" (pp. 213-254) Crawford and Gowing, Sourcebook. Read documents and introductory material in "Religion, Belief, Spirituality" (pp. 41-69) * "The Surplus Daughter," in O'Faolain and Martines, (pp. 270-5) HANDOUTS: TBA SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION OF PAPER PROJECTS How did women experience their spirituality? In what ways did it affect their lives, and how did they express it? Is there a difference between men's and women's experience of faith? What are the different choices offered to women of faith under Catholicism and Protestantism? Monday, March 17, 12:00 noon: FINAL PAPER DUE