WOMEN'S AND GENDER HISTORY

The discipline belongs to the core educational activities of the Master’s Degree Programme in History from the Middle Ages to Present. Those activities prepare students to specialize in history in and outside Europe, acquiring a specific understanding of the fundamental epistemologies of a historian’s practice and of the methodology of investigation of primary and secondary sources.
Attendance and active participation in the training activity proposed by the class and individual study will enable students to: 1) acquire knowledge of the categories, theoretical issues, and main historiographical trends in women's history and gender history; 2) deepen their understanding of the monographic theme, through reading and discussion of historical essays; 3) address the course topic through direct analysis of historical sources; 4) present orally and discuss a case study; 5) prepare a written text in the form of an essay, critically comparing bibliography and analyzing a source.

The attendance and the active participation at the course and the individual study will allow the students: 1) to acquire the knowledge and the understanding of the major categories, problems, historiographical trends related to women's and gender history; 2) to acquire a deeper knowledge on the monographic theme by reading and discussing historical essays; 3) to approach this subject through the first-hand analysis and evaluation of primary sources; 4) to give an oral presentation on a case-study; to write a paper (essay) based on a critical analysis of the scientific literature and of sources related to a case-study

Goog knowledge of the Italian language.
Knowledge of the basic events of European History in the Early Modern and Modern Age, even if the student hasn’t passed yet the specific examinations.

What is intended by "women's history" and by "gender history"? When and in which contexts "women's history" and "gender history" first emerged? Which were in the last decades the main fields of women's- and gender history? How can we use gender as "a useful category of historical analysis" (Scott 1986)?
After the introductory lessons, the first part of the course will approach methodological and historiographical questions through participative seminar activities (reading, discussions, presentations).
The second part of the course, entitled "Ego-Historians. Self-narrative, positioning and historiographical practice", intends to explore some paths and case studies at the intersection between self-narrative (ego-histoire, autobiographies, memoirs, interviews, traces of subjectivity) and historiographical production.

1. First part:
- Joan W Scott, Genere, Politica, Storia, a cura di I. Fazio, Roma, Viella, 2013, pp. 1-130;
- Pierre Bourdieu, Il dominio maschile, Milano, Feltrinelli 1998
- Laura Schettini, L'ideologia gender è pericolosa, Roma- Bari, Laterza, 2024.
2) One of the following handbooks:
Merry E. Wiesner, Le donne nell’Europa moderna, 1500-1750. Torino, Einaudi, 2017
Gisela Bock, Le donne nella storia d'Europa, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2001.
3) Two of the following books:
Testi di riferimento / Reference texts:
Ego-storiche. Percorsi di ricerca e narrazioni di sé, Andrea Giardina and Raffaella Sarti (eds.), Roma, Viella 2025
Isabelle Lacoue-Labarthe, Historiens, historiennes et récit de soi, in Isabelle Luciani (dir.), Récit de soi, présence au monde. Jugements et engagements, Europe, Afrique, XVIe-XXIe siècles, Paris, PUF (edizione cartacea 2014, online 2020).
Politik – Theorie – Erfahrung. 30 Jahre feministische Geschichtswissenschaft im Gespräch, a cura di Ingrid Bauer, Christa Hämmerle, Claudia Opitz-Belakhal, Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2022
European Ego-histoires: Historiography and the Self, 1970-2000, «Historein», vol. 3 (2001)

Singole studiose/ individual scholars:

Natalie Zemon Davis, La passione della storia. Un dialogo con Denis Crouzet, a cura di Angiolina Arru e Sofia Boesch Gaiano, Roma, Viella, 2007 (ed. or. Albin Michel 2004)
Chiara Frugoni, Perfino le stelle devono separarsi, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2013
Paola Gaiotti De Biase, Passare la mano. Memorie di una donna dal Novecento incompiuto, Roma, Viella, 2010
Yvonne Knibiehler, Qui gardera les enfants ? Mémoires d’une féministe iconoclaste, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 2007
Mona Ozouf, Composition française. Retour sur une enfance bretonne, Paris, Gallimard-NRF, 2009
Sheila Rowbotham, La promessa di un sogno. Ricordi e utopie degli anni Sessanta, Treccani, 2021.
Barbara Taylor, The Last Asylum. A Memoir of Madness in Our Times, London, Penguin Books, 2014
Claire Zalc, Z ou souvenirs d’historienne, Paris, Éditions de la Sorbonne, 2021
Other readings will be specified during the course.

Oral examination on the entire programme (theoretical part, general part, monographic part). Where possible, active participation will be evaluated (30%).

oral

28-30: thorough knowledge of methodological issues and themes of the course; critical ability in comparison with studies; if possible, active participation; very good level of expression.
24-27: general knowledge of methodological issues and themes; knowledge and understanding of readings; good level of expression.
18-23: sufficient knowledge of methodological issues and themes; sufficient knowledge and understanding of readings; sufficient level of expression.

After the introductory lessons, the first part of the course will approach methodological and historiographical questions through participative seminar activities (reading, discussions, presentations).

The syllabus may undergo minor changes by the beginning of the second semester.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development