81749 - History of Women and Gender in the Medieval Period (1)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student knows the methods of gender studies and is able to identify them in the context of the medieval historiography. The student is able to analyze for this purpose narrative sources, legislation, treatises, literature and iconography. The student is able to write a little paper, knows how to use the tools of historical research and communication, and can customize his own learning path.

Course contents

Deo dicatae: the multiple aspects of female monasticism in the Early Middle Ages

Through the analysis of narrative sources, charters and iconography, the course aims to illustrate the problem of the representation of female monasticism during the centuries of Early and Central Middle Ages.

The use of gender history conceptual tools will allow to identify the shapes assumed in the specific historical context by the construction of the social identity of individuals, males and females.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students will study lecture notes, texts and documents uploaded on AlmaDL.

Not attending students will study:

Anna M. Rapetti, Monachesimo medievale. Uomini, donne e istituzioni, Marsilio, Venezia, 2005.

S. Vanderputten, Dark age nunneries: the ambiguous identity of female monasticism, 800-1050, Ithaca 2018.

Teaching methods

Lectures with reading and analysis of written and iconographic sources.

Assessment methods

Attending students will prepare a paper of 20 pages (40,000 characters, including spaces) setting out the lecture notes and the further readings uploaded on AlmaDL.

They will contribute to the evaluation: critical capacity in describing the topics of the course and language accuracy.

Not attending students will sustain an oral test aimed to assess the learning and comprehension of the two books in bibliography. They will be assessed: the acquired knowledge of proposed texts and the presentation skills about topics.

Teaching tools

The repository of learning materials of the University of Bologna - will be used for the delivery of power points, pdf file of written sources and readings.

Office hours

See the website of Tiziana Lazzari