AMS 2300 - ROOTS OF AMERICAN FEMINISM

credits: 3.0
Crosslisted/Same As: WMS 2300
AMS 2300-WMS 2300. Starting in the late eighteenth century, revolutions in America and Europe nurtured a movement for women’s rights on both sides of the Atlantic. Out of this came radical demands: that women no longer be wholly subordinate to their husbands, that they be able to earn their own living, gain an education, and even vote. Who were the people who made these demands? How did they create a mass movement that continues to transform gender relations not only in the United States but throughout the world? This course explores these questions by discussing the development of the American women’s rights movement and situating it in the context of a broad movement for human rights in the United States. We will pay special attention to the establishment of women’s higher education and the special place Elmira College and upstate New York hold in that history. We will address the ways that race and class shaped the structure of early American feminism. Objectives: A) Compare and contrast five key nineteenth-century social movements in the United States and Europe; B) Identify the ideological and structural consequences of historical women’s movements on contemporary American feminism; C) Construct and communicate detailed stories of women’s individual experiences in different historical eras using archival materials; D) Analyze the role of higher education in both expanding and constraining ideals of womanhood in America; E) Identify and explain the ways current narratives of past social change are a product of current cultural norms and values. Method of Instruction: Seminar. Class participation is therefore essential. Method of Evaluation: Class discussion (20%), short papers and essay exams (60%), and one research paper (30%). Meets *WEP Distribution Requirement.