General

Class time: Mondays 17:30 – 19:05
Office hours: Tuesdays 17:00-18:00 

ZOOM REGISTRATION

Dr Ivan Simic

Description:

Throughout the course, students will critically examine sources and literature for some of the crucial issues that marked the gender history of Eastern Europe in the 20^th century. We will observe gender history from a transnational perspective, bringing together different regions and exploring the topics such as the interwar feminist movements, the Second World War and its impacts, the communist revolutions and gender policies, queer cultures, the collapse of socialism and post-socialist gender policies. The focus will be on the movement of ideas and people, asking questions about how gender informed broader policies and social interventions, but also how understandings about gender and sexuality were changing during the 20^th century. By investigating these far-reaching questions, we will aim to uncover the lives of ordinary people discussing their agency and the shared gendered experiences across the region.

Course Material

Readings and films are available through moodle. Podcasts are linked to their original page.

Requirements and Grading

Undergraduate Students 

1. Class Participation and discussion questions:  20%
2. Presentation: 10%
3. Book Review: 20% (due 1 December)
4. Final Paper (2000 words +-10%, due 20 January): 50%

Graduate Students

1. Class Participation and discussion questions:  20%
2. Presentation: 10%
3. Book Review: 20% (due 1 December)
4. Final Paper (3000 words +-10%, due 20 January): 50%

Participation is evaluated on the following criteria:

• providing meaningful discussion questions;
• contribution to the weekly seminar discussions.

All students have to send 3-5 discussion questions based on the readings 2 hours before every class. These questions are also considered as part of participation.

Presentation: each student is required to have a class presentation for one of the weekly seminars of their choice. The presentation is maximum 10 minutes long.

Book Review: each student will write one book review.

The selected book must be approved by the instructor. The length of the review is 650-750 words.

Final paper: The final paper discusses one question, provided by the instructor or chosen by a student in consultation with the instructor. It is based on primary sources (most likely in translation) or secondary sources (in this case, you are expected to engage the historiography of the issue). 

The length of the paper is 2000 words for undergraduate and 3000 words for graduate students.

The final paper should be seen as a research project, discussing a question/problem in an original way.

The question and the primary and secondary sources must be analysed critically, focusing on your arguments. Please feel free to consult the instructor during the entire process.

Experiential Learning:

During the discussions, we will aim to combine direct experience with focused reflection on the course readings. We will build on past knowledge and experiences, always striving to foster critical thinking. Besides the required readings from this outline, we will listen to oral history accounts, read (translated) primary sources, watch films (with subtitles), and analyse other sources such as images and posters.

Aiming to maximise the student’s learning outcomes, graduate students can also suggest alternative tasks that could contribute to their final dissertation.

Presentation list:

11 October - Anabel Molina Quesada
18 October - Juliette Goudeau (Death Battalion); 3 places available
25 October - Carla Schmidt (Czech Feminism); Diana Planida (Feminism and Marxism); Antonia Kern (Interwar Feminisms); 1 places available
1 November - Pellier Orlane and Léonore Louis (Prostitution and Stalinism); 2 places available
8 November - Martina Castiglione (Gender and Wartime Poland); 3 places available
15 November - Maelle Francoise (New Family Policies after WW2); 3 places available
22 November - Auriane Chabaud, Laurène Tranchant and Clara Letellier (Double Burden); Ruby Mancini (Women and Welfare)
29 November - Nadine Rushe (Gender and Religion); Camelia Aidaoui; Sinead Lambe; Rokas Ramanauskas
6 December - Anaëlle Jeannin (Sex cultures); Nolan Godelaine and Léa Lespagnol (LGBTQ+ in Socialist Poland); 1 place available
13 December - Hannah Smets (Women Writers and Dissent); Filip Wijnings (Gender and Films); 2 places available
20 December - Anna Fiserova (Cont. Czech Feminism); Elsa Yegavian (Postsocialism); Agata Dybek and Laury Jaspard (Postsocialism and Disability in Poland)