HIST/GWST
214, Winter 2006
Penny
S. Gold, 314 OM
x7328;
342-0232
Women's
History
through Autobiography
http://courses.knox.edu/hist214/
This
course will
explore the history of women in Europe and America from the 17th
through the
20th centuries, using autobiographies written by women as our major
source of
evidence. Within the accounts, we
will look for commonalities and divergences in women's experiences
across
place, time, religion, race, class and sexuality. Placing
the accounts in their historical contexts, we will
explore the changes in gender roles and relations as influenced by
social,
economic, and political change.
We'll also consider the nature of autobiography as a type
of
historical evidence: In what ways
is autobiography a reliable historical source, in what ways not, and
why?
Glückel of Hameln
(1646-1724), The
Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln
(written ca. 1700)
Anna Howard Shaw (1847-1919), The
Story of a Pioneer
(1915)
Vera
Brittain
(1893-1970), Testament of Youth
(1933)
Life As We Have Known It By
Co-Operative Working Women (1931),
ed. M. L. Davies
Audre Lorde (1934-1992), Zami:
A New
Spelling of My Name (1982)
Bonnie S. Anderson and Judith
P. Zinsser,
A History of Their Own: Women in Europe, 2 vols., second edition
(1999)
1 Tu 1/3 Introduction
Th 1/5
Background
on early modern life
A
History of Their Own,
vol. 1: 353-91; see prep sheet for questions and your section to
prepare (for
discussion on 1/10).
No class
today;
instructor out of town.
2 Tu 1/10 A
History of Their Own, vol. 1: 392-444 (be ready to
present
your section).
Read
brief bios of each autobiographer on web; signup for oral presentations
will
take place in class: http://courses.knox.edu/hist214/AuthorBios.html
Th 1/12 Glückel of Hameln,
Memoirs,
pp.
vii-xviii, 1-39
*Group 1: short essay
due
3 Tu 1/17 Memoirs, pp. 40-174
*Group 2: short essay
due (unless you
are doing an oral presentationÑtrue
for all other essay due dates as well)
Th 1/19 Memoirs,
pp. 174-277
*Group 3: short essay
due
4 Tu 1/24 A
History of Their Own, 2:103-196
Th 1/26 Anna Howard Shaw,
The Story of a Pioneer,
pp. 1-106
*Group 2: short essay
due
5 Tu 1/31 The
Story of a Pioneer, 107-260
A
History of Their Own,
2:331-70
*Group 3: short essay
due
Th 2/2
The
Story of a Pioneer,
261-338
A
History of Their Own,
2:197-224, 295-307 (background for
Vera Brittain; start now and finish by 2/7)
*Group 1: short essay
due
6 Tu 2/7 Vera Brittain, Testament
of Youth,
Author's acknowledgments through p. 204
short
biography and bibliography at: http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/britta.htm
Th 2/9
Testament
of Youth,
205-361
*Group 3: short essay
due
7 Tu 2/14 Testament
of Youth,
362-534
A
History of Their Own,
2: 371-405
*Group 1: short essay
due
Th 2/16 Testament
of Youth,
535-663
*Group 2: short essay
due
8 Tu 2/21 Mrs.
Layton (b. 1855), in Life As We Have Known It By
Co-Operative
Working Women,
ix-xxxix (V. Woolf's introductory letter), 1-55
A History of Their Own, 2: 227-94
*Group 1: short essay
due
Th 2/23 A
History of Their Own, 2: 308-29, 406-38
9 Tu 2/28 AUDRE LORDE, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name,
pp. 3-142
*Group 2: short essay
due
Th 3/2
Zami, 143-256
*Group 3: short essay
due
F 3/3
Preview of
final paper due by 1:00 p.m. (by e-mail)
10 Tu 3/7 Conclusion
Your grade
in the course will be based on:
oral presentation on context 15%
3 short essays
40%
final paper
25%
class participation
20%
Class discussion:
The
heart of this course is our discussion of the readings.
It is imperative that you do the
assigned reading before coming to class. Come to class prepared to talk
thoughtfully and knowledgeably about what you've read; prepared to
argue with
your classmates and with me; ready to take on others' questions and to
propose
questions of your own. I hope you
will listen attentively to others, as well as add your own voice and
perspectives into the mix of the discussion. My goal is that through
our
collective engagement with these texts, we will all leave each class
understanding more about the material and the issues it has raised.
Bring the
readings with you to class, marked up with your underlinings and
marginal
notations.
Short essays
We'll
be reading five autobiographies this term. You'll
be doing a short essay on three of them (and an oral
presentation a fourth). The purpose of the essays is to help you
prepare for
class discussion through active engagement with the reading, and to
stimulate
the class with issues raised by a variety of students. (The first and
second
essays may be revised, with revisions due within one week from when the
graded
essay was returned to you.)
Each autobiography represents
one individual voice, one
life. How can we understand how
typical this one individual is? What may she have left out of her
account? How
can we understand the meaning of behaviors, roles, attitudes, and ideas
that
appear odd to us? By learning as much as we can about the context
within which
the individual lived. In each
class we'll have one or two oral presentations that will help us
situate the
individual woman and text.
Final
paper:
The
final paper
assignment will ask you to reflect on a theme/issue as it appears in
three or
more of the memoirs, e.g.: education, friendship (with men and/or
women),
economic roles, political engagement, feminism, domestic life,
marriage/family/work ("career"), relationships with siblings or
parents, etc. Length:
about 8 pages (2,000 words)
Attendance
Attendance
is
required at all sessions. Two
absences for excusable reasons (for circumstances beyond your control,
such as
illness, family emergency, or a scheduled athletic competition) will be
allowed. Other absences will
result in a substantial lowering of the class participation part of the
grade. Please talk with me
voice-to-voice to get an excused absence. When we talk, we'll figure
out any
special arrangements for completing work that may need to be made.
Should
you have
to miss a class, it is your responsibility to get notes for the class
from
another student and to find out if any assignments were handed out or
announcements made.
Late assignments: If you need an extension because of
circumstances beyond
your control (illness, family emergency, etc.), call me and we'll talk
about
what to do. (A phone call is
necessary for this; no e-mail.)
Having a lot of work pile up from other courses or activities is
not a
"circumstance beyond your control"; it's your responsibility to look
over the term's required work and to plan ahead on when to work on
which
assignments so that all can be handed in on time. Work
turned in late without a pre-arranged extension will be
graded down, with more points taken off the later it is.
It is always better to turn in late
work than to turn in no work.
E-mail expectations: I rely on you to check your e-mail at least
once every day
or two. From time to time I will
communicate with the class in this way, giving suggestions for class
preparation,
making corrections to the syllabus, or communicating with you
individually. This goes two ways;
you can expect that I check my e-mail regularly and that I will respond
to you
promptly. However, if you need to reach me with some immediacy, the
phone is
better than e-mail. I do not read
e-mail continuously through the whole day.