HIS 228 - Modern Bodies: Gender, Sex, & Race in France

Instructor
Tilburg

One of the greatest “discoveries” of modern historical thought has been that even the human body has aspects which are historically contingent. Perceptions and attitudes toward bodies are necessarily raced, sexed, and gendered, and reflect shifting historical definitions of these categories. This course examines the way historians of modern France have tackled this topic, and the way they have interrogated the role of modern European definitions of race, gender, and sex in establishing inequitable hierarchies of social and political power. We explore images, discourses, and anxieties regarding the modern French body from the 18^th-20^th centuries. In discussing and depicting the human body, artists, politicians, and medical practitioners were also discussing and depicting problems facing modern French society, such as women’s emancipation, homosexuality, class unrest, colonial violence, and industrial and political change. This course is also an introduction to historical methods. We assess historical studies of French race, gender, and sexuality in the modern era, and evaluate the research and methodological difficulties inherent in such studies. We learn to use race, class, sexuality, and gender as categories of historical analysis, particularly in the study of the history of the body. Students will also gain experience “doing history,” by producing their own piece of historical research in the final paper project.

Satisfies Historical Thought requirement.
Counts as an elective in the French & Francophone Studies major (prior departmental approval required).
Satisfies the Justice, Equality, and Community requirement.
Satisfies a major requirement in Gender and Sexuality Studies
Satisfies a minor requirement in Gender and Sexuality Studies