90031 - History of Genres and Sexualities in Early Modern Age (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module the student is aware that gender identity, for men and women, is in part a historical and social construction that has its roots in the Christian tradition and in the evolution of the control apparatus of the early modern age (systems of repressive justice, medical knowledge, legal culture and theological classifications). The student knows how to contextualize the history of expressions of sexuality, knows how to compare the different social realities, knows how to reconstruct the history of personal relationships and the conditioning they have undergone throughout history. The student can critically evaluate historiography on women, homosexuals and gender and can master the language of the discipline by identifying the most appropriate sources for undertaking research.

Course contents

Can we talk about heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality - categories that are used today to define some of the possible identities linked to sexuality - for the late Middle Ages and the early modern age?How did men and women experience their relationship with their desire and the expectations of the community in the centuries before modernity? What institutions and what knowledge dealt with an area that contemporary sensibilities consider to be part of the private sphere and individual choice? For centuries, and since the birth of every individual, the first division of social roles has been regulated around the sexed body. Depending on whether one is a male or a female, rights, duties and expected behaviours are defined, and transgression of these is sanctioned in ways that are more or less explicitly repressive.

The course will explore the structure of European societies between the 15th and 18th centuries by addressing the following nodes:

Gender and Religion in Early Modern Europe (week two, lectures 4-6);

Medicine and society: medical knowledge and the governance of bodies (week three, lectures 7-9);

Rights, duties, possibilities: the legal status of men and women, access to education, resources and work (week four, lectures 10-12);

Criminalisation, decriminalisation of non-compliant behaviour and gender-based violence (week five, lectures 13-15).

 

Readings/Bibliography

In addition to lecture notes, attending students will add the study of:

M. Foucault, La volontà di sapere, Storia della sessualità 1, Feltrinelli, Milano (all editions are allowed)

M. E. Wiesner-Hanks, Le donne nell'Europa moderna, new edition, Einaudi, Torino, 2017

Plus a text of your choice from:

F. Alfieri, Veronica e il diavolo. Storia di un esorcismo a Roma, Einaudi, Torino, 2021

M. Barbagli, Comprare piacere. Sessualità e amore venale dal medioevo a oggi, il Mulino, Bologna, 2020

Anna Bellavitis, Il lavoro delle donne nelle città dell'Europa moderna, Viella, Roma, 2016

F. Benigno, V. Lavenia, Peccato o crimine. La Chiesa di fronte alla pedofilia, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2021

N.M. Filippini, Generare, partorire, nascere. Una storia dall'antichità alla provetta, Viella, Roma, 2017

U. Grassi, Sodoma. Persecuzioni, affetti, pratiche sociali (secoli V-XVIII), Carocci, Roma, 2019

Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, Matrimoni rinascimentali: donne e vita famigliare a Firenze (secc. XIV-XV), Viella, Roma, 2022

Valerio Marchetti, L'invenzione della bisessualità. Discussioni fra teologi, medici e giuristi del XVII secolo sull'ambiguità dei corpi e delle anime, Milano, B. Mondadori, 2001 (oppure 2008)

Gabriella Zarri, Recinti. Donne, clausura e matrimonio nella prima età moderna, il Mulino, Bologna, 2000

Natalie Zemon Davis, Donne ai margini. Tre vite del XVII secolo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1996 (oppure 2001)

 

Students not attending will add:

N. Zemon Davis, "Women's History" in Transition: The European Case, in Feminist Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3/4 (Spring - Summer, 1976), pp. 83-103 (traduzione italiana in "Nuova DWF. Donna Woman Femme. Quaderni di studi internazionali sulla donna", Roma, Donna e ricerca storica, 1977, n. 3 and in Altre storie. La critica femminista alla storia, a cura di P. Di Cori, Clueb, Bologna, 1996)

Teaching methods

The course will be held through lectures, during which sources and images will be shared and foundational texts of the discipline will be discussed.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The exam will take place in oral form. Students' familiarization with the concepts, issues and methodologies addressed during the course will be assessed.

The evaluation will take into account the ability of the student to orient herself within the sources and the bibliographic material, to illustrate themes and problems and to establish connections.

Attention will be given to:

- The ability to master the subject

- The ability to synthesize and analyze themes and concepts

- The ability to express oneself adequately and with language appropriate to the subject matter

The achievement by the student of an organic vision of the topics addressed in class together with their critical use, a good command of expression and specific language will be evaluated with marks of excellence.

A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with synthesis and analysis skills articulated in a correct but not always appropriate language, will lead to discrete evaluations.

Training gaps and / or inappropriate language - albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the exam material - will lead to grades that will not exceed sufficiency.

This course (6CFU) is part of the Integrated Course "History of Genders C.I. LM". If the student has chosen the integrated course (12CFU) in the study plan, the final mark will be the arithmetic mean of the marks obtained in the two component courses ("History of genders and sexualities in the modern age" and "History of women and gender identity").

 

Teaching tools

Presentations in power point format, sources, essays, online repertoires can be provided by the teacher. The materials will be made available in the specific section of the University website.

Office hours

See the website of Fernanda Alfieri