WGSS 239
History of Sexuality Fall 2022
Division II
Cross-listed REL 241 / GBST 241 / HIST 292
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Is sexuality an immutable aspect of who we are or is it socially constructed? How have people understood sex and sexuality throughout history? Why does religion have any say in the sexual lives of individuals and society? What are sexual transgressions and why are they punished? Is sex a commodity that can be exchanged for money? Is sex political? This course will explore these questions through a historical approach, focusing in particular on the shifting understanding of sex and sexuality across historical time and different geographical regions. In investigating the category of sexuality, this course will push us to consider three key questions: 1) Is sexuality a useful category for historical analysis, 2) how have our assumptions regarding sexuality and sexual ethics taken shape and changed over time and 3) how do social, cultural, political, and economic conditions affect changing meanings of sexuality. Historical studies will be read in conjunction with different theoretical frameworks about sexuality. Reading historical accounts of sexuality alongside theoretical pieces will allow us to consider how historians construct an argument and the influence of theoretical frameworks in shaping scholarship. Some of the theorists we will read in the course include: Michel Foucault, David Halperin, Afsaneh Najmabadi, Valerie Traub, and Carla Freccero.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 15
Expected: 15
Class#: 1348
Grading: no pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: reading responses, two essays, and final research paper
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: Religion, History, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies majors
Distributions: Division II
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
REL 241 Division II GBST 241 Division II HIST 292 Division II WGSS 239 Division II
Attributes: HIST Group G Electives - Global History

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