History and Gender in Ancient Times
Code: 100369 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500241 Archaeology | OT | 3 | 0 |
| 2500241 Archaeology | OT | 4 | 0 |
| 2500501 History | OT | 4 | 0 |
| 2503702 Ancient Studies | OT | 4 | 0 |
Contact
- Name:
- Agnès García Ventura
- Email:
- Agnes.Garcia.Ventura@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Teachers
- Agnès García Ventura
Prerequisites
None.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The main objective of the course is to place gender at the same level as other variables such as socioeconomic status or ethnicity when explaining the social configuration of the four great civilizations of the ancient world (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome). At the end of the course, the students will be able to explain these civilizations starting from the concept of intersectionality discussed in the sessions.
Competences
- History
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Ancient Studies
- Be able to express oneself orally and in writing in the specific language of history, archaeology and philology, both in one’s own languages and a third language.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Assessing and critically solving the characteristic historiographical problems of gender history.
- Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
- Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Identifying the specific methods of history and their relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
- Organising and planning the search of historical information.
- Properly using the specific vocabulary of History.
- Recognising and implementing the following teamwork skills: commitment to teamwork, habit of cooperation, ability to participate in the problem solving processes.
- Solving problems autonomously.
- Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.
- Using the specific interpretational and technical vocabulary of the discipline.
Content
Five major blocks will be developed throughout the course. Blocks 2 to 5 will have a similar structure articulated from thematic blocks that will adapt to the peculiarities of the sources and the traditions of study of each field allowing, at the same time, a comparison between the different realities that we will analyze during the course. In all cases topics will be approached both from primary sources and from the critical reading of secondary literature.
1. Historiographical trends in the study of gender in antiquity.
2. Mesopotamia: introduction (geography, chronology and sources) / image of women in literary texts (stereotypes and ideals) / elite women / legal context and justice / work (motherhood(s) and production) / sexuality / old age and childhood.
3. Egypt: introduction (geography, chronology and sources) / the construction of gender roles in literary texts (stereotypes and ideals) / elite women / legal context and justice / work (motherhood(s) and production) / sexuality / old age and childhood.
4. Aegean: introduction (geography, chronology and sources) / the elites from a gender perspective (male "homosexuality", women and worship) / work (motherhood(s), domesticity, work versus leisure) / discussing the sexual segregation of spaces / old age and childhood. This block will deal with Minoan Crete, the Mycenaean period, archaic and classical Greece.
5. Italic peninsula: introduction (geography, chronology and sources) / gender stereotypes in epitaphs / spaces, architecture and gender / work (motherhood(s), prostitution, production) / elite women (cult and political life) / legal context and justice / old age and childhood. This block will be devoted mainly to Rome, but it will also include a section dedicated to Etruria.
Needless to say, all topics discussed during this course will be particularly sensitive to aspects related to gender and will be approached with several perspectives from gender studies.
Methodology
The teaching methodology of the subject incorporates three types of activities:
(1) Theoretical sessions.
(2) Seminars: Throughout the course there will be two seminars led by specialists in gender studies in the framework of the ancient world. If, for logistic issues, it is not possible to schedule these seminars, the teacher will propose to watch two previously recorded seminars available on-line and allowing the group to discuss equivalent topics.
(3) Classroom Practices: The theoretical sessions will be combined with practical sessions to discuss the analysis of primary sources as well as to debate issues linking past and present, always from a gender studies perspective.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Classroom activities and exercise corrections | 30 | 1.2 | 10, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7, 3, 9, 8, 12, 11 |
| On-site sessions | 88.5 | 3.54 | 10, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7, 3, 9, 8, 12, 11 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Seminars | 30 | 1.2 | 10, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7, 3, 9, 8, 12, 11 |
Assessment
The evaluation of the course consists of three activities: two essays based on primary sources and one oral exam:
● First essay (30% of the final grade)
● Second essay (35% of the final grade)
● Exam / viva voce (35%)
After the publication of the qualifications of each of the three activities, a calendar for the revision of the qualifications of the students will be established.
The only resit activity is the exam / viva voce performed at the end of the course. Day and time for the exam or for the viva voce will be scheduled for each student. This exam will be on-site or on-line depending on the, possibilities, rules and laws operating at the end of the course.
The students will be tagged as "Not evaluable" and cannot be submitted for resit if the minimum mark of the Continuous Assessment set is 4 or less.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exam / viva voce | 35% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 10, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12 |
| First essay | 30% | 0 | 0 | 10, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7, 3, 9, 8, 12, 11 |
| Second essay | 35% | 0 | 0 | 10, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 7, 3, 9, 8, 12, 11 |
Bibliography
Budin, S. L. / Turfa, J. M. (eds.) 2016: Women in Antiquity, Oxon / New York.
Cantarella, E. 1991: La mujer romana, Santiago de Compostela.
Cenerini, F. 2009: La donna romana: modelli e realtà, Bologna.
Chavalas, M. 2014: Women in the Ancient Near East, Oxon / New York.
Graves-Brown, C. 2010: Dancing for Hathor. Women in Ancient Egypt, London / New York.
Iriarte, A. 2002: De amazonas a ciudadanos. Pretexto ginecocrático y patriarcado en la Grecia antigua, Madrid.
James, S. L. / Dillon, S. (ed.) 2012: A companion to women in the ancient world, Blackwell.
Justel, J. J. / Garcia, A. (eds.) 2018: Las mujeres en el Oriente cuneiforme, Alcalá de Henares.
Loraux, N. 2004: Las experiencias de Tiresias (Lo masculino y lo femenino en el mundo griego), Barcelona.
Molas, D. (ed.), 2002: Vivir en femenino. Estudio de mujeres en la antigüedad, Barcelona.
Molas, D. (ed.), 2007: Violencia deliberada: las raíces de la violencia patriarcal, Madrid.
Mossé, C. 1994: La mujer en la Grecia clásica, Madrid.
Picazo, M. 2008: Alguien se acordará de nosotras. Mujeres en la ciudad griega antigua, Barcelona.
Pomeroy, S. 1987: Diosas, rameras, esposas y esclavas, Madrid.
Robins, G. 1996: Las mujeres en el antiguo Egipto, Madrid.
Stol, M. 2016: Women in the Ancient Near East, Berlin.