HIST 5100: Twentieth-Century U.S. Women S and Gender History Seminar

HIST 5100: TWENTIETH-CENTURY U.S. WOMEN’S AND GENDER HISTORY SEMINAR Spring 2017 · Wooten Rm. 230 · Wed. 2-4:50PM

Clark Pomerleau, Ph.D. Email: [email protected] (better than phone) Office: Wooten 234 Mail Box: Wooten 225 [Office Phone: 565-4214, not a good contact] Office Hrs: Tu/Th 9:45-10:45AM & by apptmnt.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This research seminar is an opportunity to write a 15-30-page paper based on primary research about some aspect of gender history in the United States. The course focuses on the twentieth century, but if students’ theses or dissertations address earlier America, please confer with me to write within your period. Likewise, if students have a thesis topic that they have not conceived as gender history, let’s work together to see what gender analysis you can do within a chapter or chapters. The main goal is for your seminar paper to become a chapter draft, be suitable as a conference paper or be the first incarnation of an article. After common readings for the first weeks, an individual meeting with me, and a paper proposal, students will spend most class periods doing their own research and writing independently. I recommend that students email, visit office hours or make appointments with me throughout the term as needed to discuss their projects and that students support each other with suggestions during the research and writing process. We will reconvene with readers’ reports to workshop papers and help each other improve them.

COURSE READINGS: All readings are on Blackboard. See weeks below for specific readings. Blackboard: https://learn.unt.edu/

REQUIREMENTS: 1. Class Attendance and Participation, including Workshops (70 points): As graduate students, I expect you to attend and participate eagerly. This course meets infrequently, so each meeting counts for a lot. The course also requires that you make an appointment to meet during week 4 with me. 2. Paper Prospectus (50 points): Your written paper proposal is a crucial early opportunity to get feedback about your plan for the semester’s work. Clearly type out your research question(s) and whether you have initial hypotheses about the answer(s). Explain what contribution your paper will make to the field; what gap in the scholarship does it fill, new or revised interpretation does it provide to an already developed topic, and/or how does it further the field? Detail your plan for research, including what primary sources you need and where to find them, a summary of any initial work you have already completed (such as review of secondary literature), and a timetable for finishing the research stage in time to draft your paper. In a separate section state any difficulties you are having creating your argument or finding source material. Finally, include a bibliography with at least 20 sources (primary and secondary that are most relevant to your topic). 3. Full Draft (70 points): Base your 15-30-page full draft paper on primary source research. Conform the paper to UNT’s Thesis Format Manual (complete manual PDF at https://tsgs.unt.edu/thesis- manual) because you must to graduate with a thesis or dissertation. Show familiarity with the relevant scholarship on the same subject either by having a paragraph or more where you clarify how your work builds upon and extends previous scholars’ research or by weaving that through the paper when your points connect with prior authors’ works. You should assert the significance of your work as a contribution to U.S. gender history. Clearly articulate your thesis, main points, and any subsidiary arguments. Support each well with evidence, and cite using Turabian or Chicago Style. Make your writing as clear, readable, and engaging as possible. Ideally draw your paper to a nice conclusion (possibly where some of your broader significance goes). Your draft should be as complete as possible. A rough conclusion or a few holes here and there are okay, but

1 HIST 5100: TWENTIETH-CENTURY U.S. WOMEN’S AND GENDER HISTORY SEMINAR Spring 2017 · Wooten Rm. 230 · Wed. 2-4:50PM

a work that is not near completion will fail this component (D or F). The draft should be complete enough that you could delivery it at a conference without embarrassing yourself. 4. Reader’s Reports (110 points if 12 enrolled): Professional historians evaluate other historians’ work to decide whether it merits publication. Practice this skill by evaluating whether each classmate’s paper is “ready for publication” or whether the students need to “revise and resubmit.” a. Your reader’s report will summarize the paper’s thesis, b. evaluate the proof the author provides, c. assess the quality and presentation of the paper’s interpretation of source materials as evidence, d. and appraise the paper’s organization, writing style, grammar, and spelling. e. To the extent you can, show where the work fits into the historiography of gender history and its particular topic within U.S. history. What contribution(s) does the paper make to the field? f. What praise do you have for the paper? Be as generous as you truthfully can be. g. Conclusion & improvement: “Ready for publication” or “Revise and resubmit?” What specific suggestions do you have for how the author should improve the argument, structure, evidence use, etc. that they have? You must give concrete, feasible suggestions for enhancement even if you consider the paper ready for publication. “Feasible” means do not ask the author to create a paper on a different topic or make revisions that would substantially increase the length (unless the paper is only 15-20 pages) or take them down an endless rabbit hole. 5. Full Paper (200 points): In the final version of your 15-30-page research paper you should have integrated the feedback you got from readers’ reports and the workshop session. If you are in doubt because reports’ opinions conflict, check with me. A paper that does not show substantial improvement from the draft stage will fail this component (D or F).

Grades calculated to the 100th: A= 90-100%, B = 80-89%, C = 70-79%, D = 60-69%, F = 0-59%* *To know about graduate courses: In graduate school earning a “C” signals that the work fails to meet graduate standards (like a D or F in undergrad. studies), while a “B” is considered average, and an “A” is above average.

Week 1) Jan. 18: Intro. Lecture & Discussion: 24 pages of reading due to discuss 1st class: Lawrence B. Glickman, “The Impact of the Culture Concept on Social History,” Karen Halttunen, ed., A Companion to American Cultural History, (Blackwell, 2008), 396-405. Jane H. Hunter, “Gender and Sexuality,” Karen Halttunen, ed., … (2008), 327-340

Questions to jump-start discussion: Q1 What are the purposes of studying, teaching, and writing history? Q2 How do social and cultural history overlap and contrast, and what kinds of questions can each answer? Q3 What does analysis of gender and sexuality within societies contribute to history?

2) Jan. 25: No class meeting – Foundational Historiography (84pp) Instead of class, …  Please use class time to hone your seminar paper topic, research question(s), preliminary bibliography of scholarly literature, and/or primary source base depending on how far along you are.  By 2pm Wed., Jan. 25, please email me a 1-2-page paper you typed on the week’s 4 readings: —For each reading, summarize its thesis argument and main points and assess the quality and presentation of evidence the author interpreted. — Assert the significance of the readings’ contributions to U.S. women’s and gender history. If you already have a research topic, you might consider how the readings further your research. 2 HIST 5100: TWENTIETH-CENTURY U.S. WOMEN’S AND GENDER HISTORY SEMINAR Spring 2017 · Wooten Rm. 230 · Wed. 2-4:50PM

—At the end, generate your own open-ended discussion questions from the reading. I list three below. Questions might address main points, evidence, significance, historiographic issues such as how the readings affect the state of scholarship in the field, changes to dominant historical narratives, or avenues for further research or you could also apply readings to teaching. Joan Kelly, “The Social Relation of the Sexes: Methodological Implications of Women’s History,” and “The Doubled Vision of Feminist Theory,” Women, History & Theory: The Essays of Joan Kelly, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1984), 1-18, 51-64. [32pp] Joan W. Scott, "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis," The American Historical Review, Vol. 91, No. 5 (Dec., 1986): 1053-1075. [22pp] R. W. Connell and James W. Messerschmidt, “Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept,” Gender and Society 19.6 (Dec. 2005): 829-859. [30pp]

Q4 How has our understanding developed regarding ways gender analysis contributes to history? Q5 What are benefits and limits of the separate spheres model? Q6 What are benefits and misuses of hegemonic masculinity as a focus of historical study?

Optional useful examples of the state of the field also on Blackboard Linda K. Kerber and Jane Sherron De Hart, eds., “Intro. chapter,” Women’s America: Refocusing the Past, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 1-23. Linda K. Kerber, “Separate Spheres, Female Worlds, Woman's Place: The Rhetoric of Women's History,” Journal of American History 75(1) 1988: 9-39. [older review of historiography that we read in fall 2016 HIST 5110.3] Michael Kimmel, Manhood in America: A Cultural History (Oxford, 1996), chapters. 3, 6-9 & Epilogue. [also read in fall 2016 HIST 5110.3] Susan Ware, “Writing Women’s Lives: One Historian’s Perspective,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History 40.3 (Winter 2010), 413-35. [about biography]

3) Feb. 1: Literature Reviews and New Directions for Research (63pp)  Discussion on readings from Jan. 25 and Feb. 1. It is good to have notes like last week’s paper. Bonnie G. Smith, “Women’s History: A Retrospective from the United States,” Signs 35.3 (Spring 2010): 723-747. Cornelia H. Dayton and Lisa Levenstein, “The Big Tent of U.S. Women’s and Gender History: A State of the Field,” The Journal of American History 99.3 (Dec. 2012): 793-817. Alice Kessler-Harris, “Gender Identity and the Gendered Process,” The Journal of American History 99.3 (Dec. 2012): 827-829. Crystal N. Feimster, “The Impact of Racial and Sexual Politics on Women’s History, The Journal of American History 99.3 (Dec. 2012): 822-826. Ana Elizabeth Rosas, “Seeing Ourselves and for Ourselves: The Infinite Potential of Women’s and Gender History, The Journal of American History 99.3 (Dec. 2012): 830-834.

Q7 What are the ways that new directions in gender history are promising and why? Q8 How can developments in the field connect with your seminar research project?

Set up individual meetings to discuss students’ projects on 2/8 or next week at other days and times. Feb. 8, 3:30 ______day/time ______Feb. 8, 4:00 ______day/time ______

Feb. 8, 4:30 ______day/time ______Feb. 8, 5? ______day/time ______Feb. 8, 5:30? ______day/time ______

4) Feb. 8: No class meeting – Individual meetings on the 8th and other days this week. Start to draft your paper proposal, which requires assembling and gutting relevant scholarship and finding a primary source base for your research. Finished? Keep researching and writing.

5-6) Feb. 15 & 22: No class meetings – Continued creation of paper proposal and initial research.

7) Feb 27/Mar. 1: Paper proposals due Monday. Wed., we meet to assess progress and problems.

8-11) Mar. 8, 15, 22, 29: No class meetings – independent research and writing [Mar.13-19: Spring break] A model for writing intersectional gender history is Karen Anderson’s social history, Little Rock: Race and Resistance at Central High School (Princeton, 2010) [read in HIST 5110.3]. Anderson’s organization clearly lays out her topics and arguments in the first pages of each chapter and clearly summarizes the significance of her conclusions in the final pages of each chapter. She blends analysis of gender with race, class, sexuality, and age to reveal complexities of local desegregation in relation to conflicting state and national interests.

12) Apr. 5: No class meeting – Paper draft due as email attachment to the professor & each student.

13) Apr. 12: First set of reader’s reports due by Monday, Apr. 10. Email a copy of each report to me and to each of the (up to 8) people whose work you are reviewing. Bring a hard copy of each report to class. We will workshop each paper, spending approximately 20 minutes per paper. Papers for critique: 1. ______5. ______2. ______6. ______3. ______7. ______4. ______8. ______

14) Apr. 19 – only meeting if class size requires. 2nd set of reader’s reports due by Mon., Apr. 17. Class would start at 3:30. Same directions as above. Papers for critique: 9. ______10. ______11. ______12. ______

15) Apr. 26: No class meeting – Use the weeks up to May 3 to finalize your research paper.

16) May 3: Final papers are due by 5pm. Please email your paper as an attachment and upload it to TurnItIn on Blackboard.

LATE WORK? I will not accept late assignments unless you make arrangements before the assignment is due (there is usually a grade penalty) or document that a cataclysm befell you in the 24 hours before the deadline. If you have or foresee technology problems, turn in a hard copy to me by the due date.

CHANGES TO SYLLABUS: On rare occasions the instructor may change the information contained in this course syllabus with advanced notice to accommodate the progress and needs of the class.

PLAGIARISM & CODE OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: In your written work, always cite at least the author and page number(s) for every idea (quoted or paraphrased) that is not your own. You commit plagiarism if you use another person’s ideas or expression in your writing without acknowledging the source. If you quote without citing or put someone else’s ideas into your own words without crediting them, you plagiarize. You need not cite encyclopedia-type knowledge such as birth and death dates or place, the names of famous people’s teachers or relatives. By week 2 read “2.1 Plagiarism” of UNT’s Toulouse Thesis “Complete Manual” PDF and read “Academic Honesty,” “Overview of Terms,” “Common Knowledge,” and “Note taking” at: http://abacus.bates.edu/cbb/quiz/intro/integrity.html The self-test is fun and useful for future teachers: http://abacus.bates.edu/cbb/quiz/index.html

DISABILITIES ACCOMMODATIONS: The University of North Texas makes reasonable academic accommodation for students with disabilities. Students seeking reasonable accommodation must first register with the Office of Disability Accommodation (ODA) to verify their eligibility. If a disability is verified, the ODA will provide you with a reasonable accommodation letter to be delivered to faculty to begin a private discussion regarding your specific needs in a course. You may request reasonable accommodations at any time, however, ODA notices of reasonable accommodation should be provided as early as possible in the semester to avoid any delay in implementation. Note that students must obtain a new letter of reasonable accommodation for every semester and must meet with each faculty member prior to implementation in each class. Students are strongly encouraged to deliver letters of reasonable accommodation during faculty office hours or by appointment. Faculty members have the authority to ask students to discuss such letters during their designated office hours to protect the privacy of the student. For additional information see the Office of Disability Accommodation website at http://www.unt.edu/oda. You may also contact them by phone at 940.565.4323.