OVERVIEW

The course will address the main topics related to gender history and discussed by scholarly literature, (especially the more recent studies). In particular, the lessons will focus on the role of women and the relationships within families and society along the medieval centuries with special attention the the period spanning the twelfth to fifteenth centuries.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Aim of the course is providing students with historiographical and theoretical tools for the analysis and construction of gender in the Middle Ages (fifth to fifteenth centuries) and to additionally illustrate the general framework of research on the role of women in distinct local and territorial contexts in specific time periods.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at instructing students on how to read sources and scholarly literature which deal with aspects of gender and to provide the theoretical tools for the analysis and construction of gender in the Middle Ages (fifth-fifteenth centuries), by providing an introductory picture of scholarship on women in distinct local and territorial contexts and in specific time periods. At the end of the course the students will be able to read sources as well as scholarly literature critically, and contextualize the gender pespective when applied to history.

PREREQUISITES

No pre-requisites are required.

TEACHING METHODS

Frontal classes. Slides will be shown during lectures; part of the material will be provided in class, part will be available on Aulaweb. Scheduled presentations by the students; optional exercises corrected in the classroom, which may be taken into account in the examination assessment.

Students who request this at the beginning of the course will be able to follow the lectures via Teams (which will not be recorded). These students will in any case be considered non-attending.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

An overview of gender history relative to the Middle Ages, interpretative categories, historiographical updates.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Program 6 CFU

Compulsory texts:

D. Lett, Uomini e donne nel Medioevo, il Mulino 2013.

Only one of the following three options:

1) 5 chapters of: Violenza alle donne. Una prospettiva medievale, a cura di A. Esposito, F. Franceschi, G. Piccinni, il Mulino 2018

2) 5 chapters of: Donne, famiglie e patrimoni a Genova e in Liguria nei secoli XII e XIII, a cura di P. Guglielmotti, Genova, Società ligure di storia patria,  2020, available on https://www.storiapatriagenova.it/BD_vs_contenitore.aspx?Id_Scheda_Bibliografica_Padre=6234&Id_Progetto=0 

3) Christiane Klapish-Zuber, Matrimoni rinascimentali. Donne e vita famigliare a Firenze (secc. XIV-XV), Roma, Viella, 2022.

A list of reading suggestions and links useful for furthering the knowledge on the topic will be available on Aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

PAOLA GUGLIELMOTTI (President)

MARIA ELENA CORTESE

DENISE BEZZINA (Substitute)

SANDRA MACCHIAVELLO (Substitute)

VALENTINA RUZZIN (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

February 20th, 2023

Class schedule

GENDER HISTORY (LM)

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral exam will test the student's knowledge of the main gender dynamics both along the Middle Ages, and in more circumscribed contexts, as well as of the historiographical and methodological approaches illustrated during the course and in the texts. The use of an appropriate terminology will also be assessed. Presentations delivered by the students during class or as a written assignment, as outlined by the lecturers, will be considered during the evaluation; the results of optional exercises will be taken into account.

Exam schedule