Why this OER?
I created this OER to address a pressing need for an accessible, inexpensive, and concise textbook for a portion of the MHCC- HST225: Women in World History Class. This textbook covers the period from prehistory to approximately 1500 CE. For a number of years, the reading for the first half of the one-term class was a very concise, readable, and inexpensive textbook. That textbook went out of print several years ago. Since that time, available copies have become rarer and more expensive. The publisher was only willing to reprint at a cost that would be prohibitive to my students. I searched in vain for an affordable, concise text suitable for MHCC students. That is when I decided to create an OER to fill the gap. This OER will be available as a digital textbook in the class at no cost to the students. It will be a work in progress, where students will be invited to build and shape the OER over the course of the first five weeks of the class.
Why Women’s History? How did it develop as a field?
Many still question distinct fields of history based on identity. As “identity” continues to be a contested issue in our society, those questions have not gone away even though Women’s history has been a recognized field for decades. The beginning of women’s history dates back to the more inclusive higher education landscape of the post-World War II period that saw many marginalized groups attend higher education and enter the history profession. History scholars recognized that most of humanity was excluded from historical narratives that focused on the actions of white elite men, with a few elite women added to the mix. Recognizing that inclusion of marginalized groups, such as working-class people, racial and ethnic minorities, and women, would take more than just adding these groups to the traditional paradigm that was framed by the actions of elite men, scholars took the paradigm-shifting path of reframing the narratives built upon the experiences of marginalized groups. While women are not alone in having been neglected and marginalized in historical narratives, they do have the distinction of being an actual majority of the population.
Gender in History
“Gender” as a cultural and societal concept is an ever-present category of analysis that we will use in this course. How is “gender” different from sexual identity for istance? How does gender operated as a category in cultural and social systems?
Let’s get started on thinking about “gender” with this reading:
Is Gender History Just a Fancy Name for Women’s History?
Challenges of doing Women’s and Gender history
- Sources
- subjects lack of status
- Cultural bias
Essential Terms in Women’s History:
Patriarchy
Patrilineal
Patrilocal
Matriarchy
Matrilineal
Matrilocal
Intersectionality
Gender
Transexual
Feminism
We will View and Discuss more terms:
For Further Reading:
Clay, Catherine, Chandrika Paul, Christine Senecal, Envisioning Women in World History: Prehistory – 1500, Volume 1. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2006
Hughes, Sara Shaver and Brad, Women in World History: Vole 1 – Reading from Prehistory to 1500, M.E. Sharpe, 1995.
