FPFVA001 Women and Property in Europe since the Middle Ages

Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Summer 2015
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Guaranteed by
Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
This course is designed to combine lecturing units with units of student presentations and common discussions. On the basis of historical-anthropological approaches and approaches of cultural studies, the course will focus thematically on issues like inheritance and property transfer. It will discuss and evaluate critically the results of research on the economic role of women with regard to property and property devolution in a comparative perspective between different European areas. This course will introduce, for illustrative purposes, relevant primary source material, including narrative sources in foreign language (German).
Syllabus
  • Unit 1: Introducing the topic and the organization of the course, discussion of expectations and interests of students, readings and tasks.
    Unit 2: Historical Anthropology and Microhistory as research methods; approaches to critical reading and evaluation of research publications.
    Unit 3: Introduction of and critique on European research traditions on topics of family and inheritance. Survey of historiographical developments and current research perspectives and approaches.
    Unit 4: Inheritance patterns and women in European history.
    Reading: Jack Goody, Inheritance, property and women: some comparative considerations, in: J. Goody, J. Thirsk, E. P. Thompson (eds), Family and inheritance, rural society in Western Europe 1200-1800, Cambridge 1976, 10-36.
    Discussion of reading.
    Unit 5: Family and property.
    Reading: Hans Medick/David Sabean, Einleitung, in: id. (eds.) Emotionen und materielle Interessen: sozialanthropologische und historische Beiträge zur Familienforschung, Göttingen 1984, 27-53.
    Discussion of reading.
    Unit 6: Strategies of women in property devolution.
    Reading: Barbara Todd, Demographic determinism and female agency: the remarrying widow reconsidered ... again, in: Continuity and Change 9 (1994), 421-450.
    Discussion of reading.
    Unit 7: Property and women in historical practice. Introduction and discussion of selected primary sources.
    Unit 8: The myth of unequal inheritance.
    Reading: Martine Segalen, "Sein Teil haben". Geschwisterbeziehungen in einem egalitären Vererbungssystem, in: H. Medick/D. Sabean (eds), Emotionen und materielle Interessen, Göttingen 1984, 181-198
    Discussion of reading.
    Unit 9: Property and women in early modern England: a comparative view.
    Reading: Amy Louise Erickson, Property and widowhood in England 1660-1840, Cambridge 1983, 145-163.
    Discussion of reading.
    Unit 10: Widows in European history.
    Reading: Dana Štefanová, Widows: outsiders in rural economy and society in Central Europe?, in: The History of the Family 15 (2010), 271-281.
    Discussion of reading.
    Unit 11: Widowhood and remarriage: a differentiated view. Introduction and discussion of selected primary sources.
    Unit 12: Summary view: patriarchalism triumphant?
    Reading: Karl Kaser, Macht und Erbe, Vienna 2000, 27-75.
    Discussion of reading.
    Unit 13: Concluding discussion, evaluation and critique of the course.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
Teacher's information
Regular attendance and participation: 50%
One in-class presentation / One term paper (5-10 pages): 50%
The course is also listed under the following terms Summer 2014.
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