 |
Women on the Edge: Boundaries
in the WS/ GS 206
Professor Lisa B. Hughes Armstrong 240 |
Course Description:
What happens when a boatload of Greece's finest specimens of
masculinity, bound for the edges of the earth, land on an island
inhabited only by females, who had killed all their husbands and are running
things themselves? In this introduction to the study of gender in Greek and
Roman antiquity you will discover the wealth of resources that the ancient
world provides in tackling complex modern questions. The theme of "Boundaries
and Frontiers" will guide our readings. Beginning with the myth of the Voyage
of the Argo we will investigate the earliest framings of the questions of
boundaries. What are they? Are they natural or constructed? Are the consequences
of challenging them positive or negative? In myth the idea of the geographical
boundary is closely associated with the physical and conceptual boundaries
that distinguish the lives of men and women. Space itself is gendered, and
there are masculine spaces, and feminine spaces. What happens when this boundary
is transgressed? The many boundary questions we will consider include lines
between city-states and countries, what constitutes sacred space for the Greeks
and the Romans? and how is the sanctity observed? On a more personal level,
we will consider private life, and the significance of the domestic threshold,
marriage, and puberty rituals for males and females. Who creates the boundaries,
and what power does that provide? In the second block we will continue to
read the ancient textsliterary, historical, religious, political and medical,
shifting our emphasis to the Romans, and their responses to the Greeks. As
the questions progress from the global to the personal, we are challenged
to consider the boundaries that constrain our own political, social, and domestic
lives. Now you will begin to work independently on an issue of particular
interest to you. You will use some aspect of the ancient world as a paradigm
against which to study how some problem is played out in other cultures, especially
our own. In a research paper you will begin to investigate this problem, which
may not have arisen yet, as you read this, or may not have attained the full
form you will address.
Course Goals and Requirements:
The course is designed so that you will be doing a great deal of the work.
There will be little of me telling you things to spew back. Though when that
is called for, I hope you spew well and thoroughly.You are expected to do
the reading regularly and to come to class every day with something to say.
You will be called on to use and develop your critical skills: reading, analysis,
and cogent writing.
Grading:
Your grade is based on your writing assignments, exams, and your oral class
contribution. There will be a few unannounced quizlets, but more if the class
discussions become stale, or boring, or root-canalish. If you've had a root
canal, you know what i mean. There is one grade for the two blocks, but I
will give you a mid-term grade, so you'll know how you are doing.
Texts:
| Blundell | Women in Ancient Greece |
| Lefkowitz and Fant | Women's Lives. . . .A Sourcebook |
| Zweig, et al. | Women on the Edge |
| Apollonius | Argonautica |
| Euripides | Bacchae and Other Plays |
| Lerner | Creation of Patriarchy |
| Vergil | Aeneid |