GWST 669 - Femininity and Masculinity in the Middle Ages

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The central theme of this course will be the importance of gender as a category of cultural difference. We will consider the ways in which medieval society defined femininity and masculinity, appropriate male and female behavior, and men’s and women’s bodies. What did it mean to be masculine/feminine within medieval culture? Who created these definitions? How were the definitions challenged? What role does sexual behavior play in these definitions? How do other categories, like economic class, religion, and ethnicity complicate ideas about gender? To address these questions, each week we will read some combination of primary sources, monographs and scholarly articles that center around a particular theme.

There are four main goals in this course. The first is to learn how ideas about masculinity and femininity shaped the lives of men and women in medieval Europe. The second is to master the historiography of sex and gender in recent medieval histories. The third is to develop your own research project. The final goal is to improve your presentation skills. To that end, each of you will be responsible for leading one class and, at the end of the semester, you will each present your independent research to the course as a whole.
Linked with/Also listed as Cross-Listed: HIST 669