Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Summer 2016 - HIST 307 D100

Selected Topics in Hellenic Studies (4)

On Women: Antiquity to Pres

Class Number: 5478

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    May 9 – Aug 8, 2016: Wed, 1:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Selected Topics. Content may vary from offering to offering; see course outline for further information. HIST 307 may be repeated for credit only when a different topic is taught. Students with credit for HS 307 may take HIST 307 for credit only when a different topic is taught.

COURSE DETAILS:

On Women: European ideas and debates regarding women from the Renaissance to the Present

This course examines the perceptions and ideas regarding women in Europe, their nature, their roles in society, their rights and obligations, their sexuality, and their relationship to men and other women that were expressed from Antiquity to the Present. We will be looking at the changes that European society underwent during that period, the rise of new ideologies and systems of thought, and the impact all these had on women. We will be focusing on how women responded to, or initiated, change, as well as the counter-arguments, or new theories, developed to stifle the early women’s calls towards equality.

The primary objective of the class is for students to escape determinist approaches to the history of women and their struggle for rights and gain the ability to look at the past in its own terms. By the end of the course students should have the ability to analyze primary source documents and use them in formulating convincing arguments. They will also have gained the ability to write in an analytical manner and to present a convincing thesis involving complex issues. Some of the themes the course will cover are:
  • Women in Antiquity
  • Saints, Mystics, and Noblewomen of the Middle Ages
  • Renaissance, Reformation, and Witchcraft
  • The Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the first calls for Equality
  • Utopian Socialism and Liberalism - Bourgeois and Working Class Women
  • Nationalism and Scientific Socialism – Class, and the Nation
  • Fin de Siècle Europe, the Demands for Suffrage, and the Great War
  • The Russian Revolution, the Roaring 20s, and the Depressing 30s
  • Women in the aftermaths of World War II and the Fall of Communism

Grading

  • Class attendance and participation 15%
  • One-page responses to the weekly readings 15%
  • Book presentation and review paper 20%
  • Peer-review assignment 10%
  • Midterm 15%
  • Research paper 25%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

  Lisa DiCaprio and Merry E. Wiesner (eds.) Lives and Voices

  Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata

  Online readings

RECOMMENDED READING:

Renate Bridenlhal, Susan Stuard, Merry E. Wiesner: Becoming Visible, Women in European History

Registrar Notes:

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site contains information on what is meant by academic dishonesty and where you can find resources to help with your studies.  There is also a section on tutoring.  

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS