Ruth Rosen
Visiting Professor of
History
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday: 1:30-3:00 office Dwinelle,
3219 and by appointment
Gender, Culture and Society
In 20th Century America
In
this course, we will explore the social, economic, and cultural history of
women and gender during the twentieth century. How did ideas about and experiences of family life, gender
and sexual attitudes change as American society became increasingly industrialized,
urbanized and its culture influenced by mass culture, consumer culture, rapid
technological advances and the transformation to a post-industrial, post-modern
global economy? What are the origins of the modern womenÕs movement, as well as
the gay, lesbian and transgendered movements, and what did they accomplish? How
does the study of Ògender mattersÓ in the 20th century help us
understand the origins of our contemporary cultural wars?
Goals: The major goals of
this course are for you to improve your critical reading and writing skills, to
understand how the meaning and experience of gender changes over time, and to
help you learn how to analyze why and how social change occurs. To achieve these goals I have assigned
a variety of different writing assignments and readings that will encourage you
to think about modern history from different perspectives, by using different
kinds of sources.
Course Requirements:
Required Reading:
Lynn Dumenil and Ellen
Dubois: Through WomenÕs
Eyes—A textbook with documents
and visual sources
Anzia Yezierkska, The
Bread Givers—a novel
Yoshiko Uchida, Desert Exile---Memoir of Japanese internment
Ann Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi---Memoir of civil rights experience
Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel
and Dimed—journalist account of
female low-wage workers
Ruth Rosen, The World
Split Open: How The Modern Women's
Movement Changed America—historical
monograph, a secondary source
Margaret Atwood, The
Handmaid's Tale—dystopian novel
Lectures, and documentaries
will complement the readings and material from them will appear on all
exams. If you miss a film or
documentary it will be your responsibility to find and watch it. In other words, if you miss lectures, which
include a variety of historical documentaries, it may be difficult to do well
in this course and I most certainly want that for you.
1) A Midterm
in class on October 5th. Any absence from the exam must be
accompanied by a physicianÕs letter. Questions will be handed out before and everything that appears
on the midterm will come exclusively from that handout, which will be far more
extensive.
2) Three one-page film critiques of documentaries shown
in class. During the quarter, I
will be showing you a number of documentaries that illustrate important aspects
of 20th century history.
Students should choose three films and write a one-page critique of
those films. The critique should
include three paragraphs: 1) a statement of the filmmaker's thesis or
argument. This is not a summary or
a statement of what the film is about. It is the argument of the film. 2) the evidence used in the documentary to support this
perspective, which can include archival footage, talking heads, still
photographs, a narrative voiceover, etc. 3) the student's assessment of the filmmaker's bias. The purpose of this assignment is to
help you view documentary films critically, to recognize bias and cinematic
argumentation. The film critique
is due at the very next lecture after you have seen the film, please hand it in
to the GSI. Please note that both the midterm and final exam will have
questions that draw upon the information and perspectives of documentaries
shown in class. So please do not
miss films or ask to see them individually. I will be discussing how to write
such a three paragraph critique in lecture.
3) The final exam, which will cover only material covered
since the midterm, will include essay questions and identifications (that ask
you about the significance of a person or event or concept). A broad variety of
essay questions and identifications will be given out on the last day of
lecture. You will have ample time
to study for the exam and the questions for the actual exam will be chosen
exclusively from what is handed out that last day. We will encourage you to
study together, but at the exam, your work must be your own.
4) Term Paper: A ten-page paper based on an oral interview with an
individual who is at least twenty years older than yourself. The purpose of this assignment is to
understand and analyze the impact of the historical context or impact of change
on one individualÕs life. Examples might include interviewing a woman who
worked during World War II; a man who fought in Vietnam; a man who was laid off
as a result of the de-industrialization and outsourcing; a woman who felt
pressured by the Feminine Mystique during the l950's; a woman who was affected
(or not) by the contemporary women's movement during the 60's or 70's; a woman
who entered the labor force as the "the first woman" in her field; a
person who Òcame outÓ as a gay man or lesbian, a person who worked in any
social movement (gay and lesbian rights, trangendered rights, pro-life ban of
abortion, third wave feminism) for social change. Please choose the person you
will interview as soon as possible within the first three weeks of the
semester. The individual can be a parent or grandparent. In fact, this may the only time you get
to ask questions that are not usually asked of close family relatives. The
paper, which should be no more than ten pages maximum, is due the last day of
class, with no exception unless my permission is granted or you have a doctor's
note. ItÕs absolutely essential
that you place this person within the context of his or her historical period
by drawing on the documents, books, lectures and films of the course.
5) There will be two voluntary sections, to which we
encourage you to attend. They will
be right after lectures, so they will allow you to discuss the reading, lecture
and the issues raised in this course.
We believe that those who attend with consistent regularity will have a
much greater chance of understanding the material in the course and will
therefore very likely do better on the assignments.
6) Every student is
required to meet with the GSI at least once about their final paper, preferably
right after the midterm. You may
also come see me, instead.
Course Evaluation
Midterm: 30%
Film Critiques: 10%
Final Exam: 30%
Oral History Interview
Paper: 30%
Some caveats: Please take intellectual honesty seriously. I am an extremely compassionate person,
who cares deeply about students, but I do not treat plagiarism or cheating lightly.
Also, please do not e-mail me or the GSI with practical questions, such as how
to use the library, where you can find the course books, or where you get
another syllabus. Ask your
classmates, take a tour of the library, go to stores, learn to use the UCB web.
All relevant information will be posted on the course web site. But please DO e-mail
me when you have an important intellectual question, want to discuss something
or an urgent problem. And please
DO come see me during office hours. I truly enjoy meeting you and discussing your responses to
the lectures and readings, and learning about your life experiences and your
opinions.
Lecture Schedule: Please
note: All Reading should be
completed by the date of the lecture. I will be assuming this at every lecture.
Reading:
Dubois, p. 101, p. 167-168, p. 235, p. 304-305, p. 372
Sept 5 The
Woman Question at the Turn of the Century:
The Search for Solutions
Radicals,
Reformers and Progressives:
Reading: Dubois, p. 366, The Settlement House
Movement; the Subtle Problems of Charity, p. 379-385; The Female Dominion, p.
415-424.
Sept 7 The
Woman Question: Part II
Sept 12 From
WomenÕs Rights to Suffrage to Feminism
Reading:
Dubois, p. 304, ÒSolitude of the Self;Ó Votes for women, The Emergence
Feminism, The Great War pp.424-446, Documents: pp. 460-464
Sept 14 The Politics
of Suffrage
Film:
ÒOne Woman, One VoteÓ
Reading:
Dubois, Visual Sources, ÒWomen in Public Spaces and Modernizing Womanhood,Ó p. 449-459
Sept 14 The
Politics of Sexuality and Prostitution
Reading: Dubois, p. 169-175, start reading The
Breadgivers
Sept 19 The Gendered
Immigrant Experience
Reading: Anzia Yezierska, The Breadgivers
And
Dubois, pp. 352-361, Visual Sources: pp. 386 to 392
Sept 21 Race
Relations, the Great Migration and the Anti-Lynching Movement
Film: ÒIda B. Wells Passion for JusticeÓ
Reading:
Dubois, Documents: p. 306-311, p.
466-472
Sept 26 Working Women, Class Conflict and Alliances
Reading:
Dubois, pp. 146-147, pp .406-415,
Visual
Sources,
p. 447-449
Sept 28 The Creation of Consumer Culture and
Cultural Wars of the 20s
Reading: Dubois, p. 481-497; documents, p.
519-525
Questions
for midterm handed out
Oct 3 Women,
Men and Families in the Depression: The Origins of the New Deal
Reading:
Dubois, p. 497-507, Documents, 526-532;
Visual Sources, 534-548.
Oct 5 Midterm
in Class
Oct 10 WWII:
The Racialized and Gendered Home front
Film: ÒRosie the RiveterÓ
Reading:
Dubois, p. 507-518; Start reading Desert Exile.
Oct 12 WWII
and Japanese Internment
Reading: Desert Exile
Oct.17 Cold War
Culture, McCarthyism and the Feminine
Mystique
Reading:
Rosen, Chapters 1 and 2; Dubois, p. 555-574, Visual Sources, p. 593-608;
documents, p. 610-611
Oct.19 The
Civil Rights Movement
Ann
Moody, Coming of Age in
Mississippi
Film:
ÒFreedom on my MindÓ
Oct. 24 Challenging race
relations and conventional wisdom:
Reading:
Dubois, pp. 574-580;
Documents, 613-622
Oct.28 The Awakening of Gender
Consciousness: The
Origins
and Culture of the Modern Women's
Movement
Reading: Rosen, Chapters 3 and 4, Dubois, pp.
580- 592;
Oct. 31 The Emergence
of Lesbian and Gay Politics
Film
ÒBefore StonewallÓ
Nov.2 The
Modern WomenÕs Movement: Naming private experiences and challenging conventional
wisdom, customs and public policies.
Reading: Rosen, Chapters 5, 6, 7; Dubois, pp. 628-648
Nov. 7 The
Political Culture and Peculiarities of the American womenÕs movement
Film:
ÒHalf the PeopleÓ
Nov. 9 Consumer
and Therapeutic Feminisms
Reading: Rosen, Chapter 8 and 9
Film:
ÒKilling me softlyÓ
Reading: Start reading The HandmaidÕs Tale
Nov. 14 Backlash:
The 80Õs, and the Rise of the Cultural Wars
Reading: Margaret Atwood, The HandmaidÕs Tale;
Dubois, pp. 649-653
Nov. 16 Backlash:
From Closet to Same-Sex Marriage
Film: ÒAfter StonewallÓ
Reading:
Dubois, Visual sources, p. 677-684; start reading Nickel and Dimed
Nov. 21 Backlash: The 90s: Working Women, Welfare, TANF and the Working Poor
Reading: Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, Dubois, 658-664
Nov. 23 Gender as a
Lightening Rod: Cultural Wars 2000-2006
Dubois, p 658-664,
Nov. 28 The
Rise of Third Wave Feminism and the Transgendered Movement
Reading:
Dubois, pp. 653-658; doceumtnets, p. 665-677
Nov.30 Global
WomenÕs Movements: Challenging Global Policies on Human Rights,
Population Control and Development; 1995 Beijing, the Plan of Action
Reading: Rosen, Epilogue;
Dec. 2 Gendered
Globalization: The Feminization of Immigration
Film,
ÒGlobal Assembly LineÓ
Reading: Dubois, p. 685-692
Dec. 5 The
Problem that has no Name: ÒThe Care CrisisÓ
No
reading: Time to finish final
paper
Dec. 7 Last
class: The Unfinished Gender
Revolution
Final
papers handed in; Questions for
finals handed out
Dec. 7
Last class: The Unfinished
Gender Revolution
Final
papers handed in
Final Exam: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2006
1230-3:30P