Current course offerings

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Course description

Via a series of creative and imaginative works, this course takes you on a journey through women's and gendered experiences and the ways in which gender is understood and performed in Western society and culture. Through reading a range of diverse authors, we will consider how writing by women, for women, and about women adds depth to our understanding of Western culture and its future. These works mark the emergence of new sensibilities and are grouped around three perspectives: 'The "Nature" of Woman', `The Woman Citizen, Artist, Writer, and Professional' and 'The "New Woman" and Changing Western Societies'. These writings profoundly changed the world in which they operated, offering a new vision of the capacities and capabilities of women, the value of the domestic sphere, and women¿s achievements. We see the development of a new language of political feminist critique that challenged patriarchy and established conventions. The course is thematic, rather than chronological, and each week we will discuss how these texts contribute to our understanding of women's and gendered experiences, and how attitudes towards women and gender have changed over time, but also how these works continue to speak to contemporary women and categories of gender today.

Archived offerings