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Gender, Rights, and Power in History (HIST10017)

Undergraduate level 1Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

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Semester 2
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This subject introduces students to key issues in the history of sex, gender, race, power, and identity. It explores how ideas about masculinity and femininity, race and ethnicity, and sexual identity and desire have changed over time and across cultures. The subject will adopt a global and comparative approach, surveying changing norms about gender, race, sex in different regions of the world over time. Throughout the subject, students will be introduced to the major themes and questions in gender history, including but not limited to: the relationship between science, economics, law and ideas about sexual difference, the intersection of race, class and sex in the construction of identities, and the role of religion, politics, law and the economy in shaping gender hierarchies and sexual norms. Finally, working with a range of primary sources, students will consider how ordinary people have shaped, negotiated and challenged gender, sex and racial identities over time. 

Intended learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this subject should be able to: 

  • Describe the different ways women have been involved in shaping major world events
  • Be open to new ideas and possibilities and expressing responses to them through constructing an intellectual argument, and demonstrate research skills through competent use of primary materials which are textual and visual alongside scholarly literature and other sources of information
  • Reflect critically on various interpretations of leadership and gender in different times and places
  • Be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through written work and class discussions
  • Identify how gender and power have been culturally and socially constructed in history and the present
  • Analyse the intersection of gender, class, race and ethnicity in power structures, and recognise how these are shaped over time.

Generic skills

Student who successfully complete this subject should be able to:

  • Apply knowledge gained alongside critical thinking skills to solve problems in contexts such as workplaces and communities
  • Be open to new ideas and perspectives
  • Take challenges in their thinking, considering multiple possibilities and viewpoints, while always responding in an ethical and responsible manner
  • Develop time management and planning skills.

Last updated: 19 September 2024