COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course offers an introduction to the experience of women in the Middle Ages through close examination of writings by and about women. In so doing we will be less concerned with the more traditional elements of medieval history and more interested in how such elements came to shape women’s lives and opportunities. One of the central themes will be the importance of gender as a category of cultural difference; with this in mind we will spend a fair amount of time considering the ways in which medieval society defined femininity, appropriate female behavior, and the female body, as well as the ways in which those definitions and understandings changed over time. Among the two paradigms to be considered will be the two most common and paradoxical medieval understandings of women: as “daughters of Eve” women were inherently sinful and inferior, but as “sisters of Mary” women shared in the virtues and special status of the Virgin. A second organizing principle will be the importance of the “family” as the central social institution in the construction of medieval ideas about womanhood. Thus we will examine the ways in which the shape of the family changed over the period 500-1500 and the impact of such changes on women’s power, ability to work, religious experiences, and cultural opportunities. Third, since in the Middle Ages, as now, women and femininity were understood and culturally defined only in relation to men and masculinity, we will also spend some time comparing female experience with the experience of men. Fourth, we will examine the changing role of Christianity in shaping both women’s lives and spirituality. In our exploration of these themes we will depend upon analysis of significant primary sources about women and femininity written both by men and by women.
Student Learning Goals:
A student who successfully completes this class ought to learn and
feel comfortable doing the following:
-interpreting primary sources from the period under study and
using both written and oral skills to analyze
them
-synthesizing material read from a variety of sources to produce a larger analytical conclusion
-utilizing a variety of forms of writing to analyze materials
from the past, thereby helping students to
recognize and construct strong written arguments, to critically evaluate
scholarship, and to gather and employ evidence
-using oral communication of a variety of types (small-group,
debate) to express analytical points about
the past
-recognizing how theoretical frameworks of analysis - especially
gender - shape interpretations of the past
-comparing ideas, events, and individuals over time to look for
change and continuity
-performing research in Jackson Library in order to develop a
short research paper that analytically treats
a medieval woman (or small group of women)