Module HIST3A13: Sexuality in Early Modern Europe, c.1500-1750

Department: History

HIST3A13: Sexuality in Early Modern Europe, c.1500-1750

Prerequisites

• A pass mark in at least TWO level 2 modules in History

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To develop an advanced understanding of the history of sexuality in early modern Europe.
• To give the opportunity to develop knowledge of related histories of gender, the body, and medicine in early modern Europe.
• To evaluate critically the opinions of scholars of early modern sexuality and probe them against a careful reading of primary material.
• To develop advanced reading of different types of primary material, including both written and visual.
• To contribute towards meeting the generic aims of Level 3 study in History.

Content

• In this course, we investigate the history of sexuality in early modern Europe. We will peer into the bedroom, the convent, the courtroom, to ask how men and women experienced sex and intimacy in the past. Sexuality asks us to think about how people understood gender, and their own bodies. It asks us to think about the history of medicine and the history of religion; both physicians and theologians had lots to say about sex and how to have it, and the meaning of sex changed with the Reformation and Counter Reformation. We will study queer sexualities and think about how to theorize sexual identity before modernity. We will consider cloistered life and how nuns understood celibacy – and how they used imageries of the body to dramatize physical intimacy with God. We will read court transcripts that concern ‘aberrant’ or ‘immoral’ sexualities, including those concerning sex workers and witches, to think about how normative sex was policed in the early modern period. Finally, we will study the possible results of sex – both childbirth and abortion – to investigate how reproductive life shaped people’s views of their own sexuality.

Learning Outcomes

• A deep understanding of the history of sexuality in early modern Europe.
• A sophisticated understanding of how histories of gender, medicine, religion, and the body shaped sexuality in the early modern past.
• The ability to analyse critically a complex range of primary material concerning sex and intimate life in the early modern past.
• To critically interrogate terminology and methodologies that deal with the construction of sexual identities in the past.

• Challenging students’ assumptions about the past and reflecting on the nature of the discipline (and, where appropriate, interdisciplinarity) at an advanced level.
• Appreciating how historical knowledge is produced, what forms it takes, and the purposes it serves.
• Reflecting on students’ own historical consciousness and practice.

• The ability to employ sophisticated reading skills to gather, sift, process, synthesise and critically evaluate information from a variety of sources (print, digital, material, aural, visual, audio-visual etc.).
• The ability to communicate ideas and information orally and in writing, devise and sustain coherent and cogent arguments.
• The ability to write and think under pressure, manage time and work to deadlines.
• The ability to make effective use of information and communications technology.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Seminars to allow students to present and critically reflect upon the acquired subject-specific knowledge, methodologies and theories, and to identify and debate a range of issues and differing opinions. The seminar is the forum in which students are given the opportunity to communicate ideas, jointly exploring themes and arguments. Seminars are structured to develop understanding and designed to maximise student participation related to prior independent preparation. Seminars give students the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, encourage critical and tolerant approaches to reasoned argument and historical discussion, build the students' ability to marshal historical evidence, and facilitate the development of the ability to summarise historical arguments, think in a rapidly changing environment and communicate in a persuasive and articulate manner, whilst recognising the value of working with others and, occasionally, towards shared goals.
• Tutorials either individually or in groups to discuss topics arising from prepared work, allowing students the opportunity to reflect upon their personal learning with the tutor.
• Assessment: Examinations test students' ability to work under pressure under timed conditions, to prepare for examinations and direct their own programme of revision and learning and develop key time management skills. The examination gives students the opportunity to develop relevant life skills such as the ability to produce coherent, reasoned and supported arguments under pressure. Students will be examined on subject specific knowledge.
• Summative essays remain a central component of assessment in history, due to the integrative high-order skills they develop. Essays allow students the opportunity to recognise, represent and critically reflect upon ideas, concepts and problems; students can demonstrate awareness of, and the ability to use and evaluate, a diverse range of resources and identify, represent and debate a range of subject-specific issues and opinions. Through the essay, students can synthesise information, adopt critical appraisals and develop reasoned argument based on individual research; they should be able to communicate ideas in writing, with clarity and coherence; and to show the ability to integrate and critically assess material from a wide range of sources.
• Primary source handling: Students are assessed on their understanding of original primary sources, usually in print, their character varying according to the nature of the subject, and the students' ability to bring that knowledge to bear on 'cutting edge 'research-based monographs and articles. Students are given the opportunity to discuss and articulate an understanding of changing interpretations and approaches to historical problems, drawing evidence from a body of primary source materials. Students are required to demonstrate skills associated with the evaluation of a variety of primary source materials, using documentary analysis for a critical assessment of existing historical interpretations.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

One formative essay of not more than 2,500 words (not including footnotes and bibliography); preparation to participate in seminar and tutorials; at least one oral presentation; and practice source/gobbet work.

■ Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University.