Gender in Eighteenth-Century Britain - Semester 1 - HIS00132H

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Module summary

In a century that witnessed the rise of a so-called ‘public sphere’ of ‘rational men’ in its opening decades and the publication of ‘feminist’ tracts at its close, how was gender perceived and portrayed and how did that change over the course of the century? Examining visual, textual and material representations from the long eighteenth century (c.1688-1832), this course explores contemporary ideas of masculinity, femininity and sexuality. It pays particular attention to the (often conflicting) ways in which women and men were represented and the ways they represented themselves. Who was the ‘ideal’ man and ‘ideal’ woman and who normalised or challenged those ideals? How inclusive or exclusive were eighteenth-century British societies of people of different ages, backgrounds and identities and what role did ideas of gender play in those histories of acceptance and exclusion? The course is structured to guide students through a large and still growing historiography, while also focusing on particular case studies to explore the extensive primary source materials available both online and within the university’s archival and library collections.  

Related modules

Students taking this module must also take the second part in Semester 2.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 1 2024-25

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to in depth study of a specific historical topic using primary and secondary material;
• To enable students to explore the topic through discussion and writing; and
• To enable students to evaluate and analyse primary sources.

Module learning outcomes

Students who complete this module successfully will:

• Grasp key themes, issues and debates relevant to the topic being studied;
• Have acquired knowledge and understanding about that topic;
• Be able to comment on and analyse original sources;
• Be able to relate the primary and secondary material to one another; and
• Have acquired skills and confidence in close reading and discussion of texts and debates.

Module content

Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1 and a 3-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW). Students prepare for and participate in eight three-hour seminars in all.
 
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following: 

1. Historiography: Key categories and the development of debates
2. Gender and race 
3. Histories and representations of Dido Belle and Ignatius Sancho
4. Gender and sexuality
5. Histories and representations of Anne Lister (“Gentleman Jack”) 
6. Gender and sex
7. Histories and representations of London’s ‘Covent Garden Ladies’ and Molly Houses
8. New studies in eighteenth-century gender history

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

For formative assessment, students will be given the opportunity to produce text commentaries in seminar, including a written commentary.
 
For the summative assessment students build a portfolio of two parts, to be submitted together:
a)     Two text commentaries of 500-750 words; and
b)     One 1,500-word essay which reflects on the significance of the chosen texts in light of scholarship and sources from across the module. 
The commentaries comprise 50% and the essay 50% of the overall mark for this module. Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

Formative work will be live marked in seminar and supplemented by the tutor giving oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.

For summative assessment tasks, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.

Indicative reading

For semester time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading:

• Anon, The Woman of Colour: A Tale (1808) - see new edition edited by Lyndon J Dominique (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview, 2007).
• H. Barker and E. Chalus, Gender in Eighteenth-Century England: Roles, Representations and Responsibilities (London: Routledge, first published 1997, new edition 2014).
• L. Nochlin ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ in A. Jones (ed.), The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader (London: Routledge, 2003), chapter 26.