HIST/WMST 391

Gendering Modern German History, 19-20 Century

(Undergraduate Seminar)

Karen Hagemann

This seminar provides an introduction to a gendered history of nineteenth- and twentieth-centuries Germany, in particular the Wilhelmine Empire (1871-1918), the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the Third Reich (1933-1945). The central focus is on questions of continuity, change, and rupture within the gender order and the gender relations. We will ask on the one hand how the major changes in politics, economy, society and culture during this period affected women's and men’s lives. On the other hand we will ask how different groups of women (and their male supporters) tried to improve the working and living conditions of women and increase their political influence and how the aims and forms of this struggle for female emancipation changed. Overarching themes will include women's and men’s role(s) in the workforce, the household and the family as well as in the ‘public spheres’ of civil society, the nation and the state, the interrelationship of the military, war and gender during World War I and II; the gendered politics of social and racial inclusion and exclusion in the Third Reich; and the gendering of the Holocaust.

Format of the Seminar 

The methodological purpose of the seminar is to introduce students to historical research. Students will gain an understanding of historical methods by working on individual projects. They will learn to formulate their own research questions, compile a bibliography, organize their reading of primary and secondary sources successfully, and structure and write a research paper. This term paper will give each student an opportunity to apply historical analysis to a topic of his/her own choice. Student participation will play a crucial role in the seminar. The discussions of shared readings will give each student ample opportunity both to learn much about the course topic and to assess different methods of historical interpretation. The short in-class oral report on the research paper will provide a chance for each student both to practice presenting ideas succinctly and clearly and to receive constructive suggestions. Submitting first drafts of the papers and engaging in discussions of the drafts will help students improve the organization and style of their writing and to sharpen their analysis.