First-Year Writing Seminar - American History (102-8-20)
Topic
Wives, Witches, and Wenches: The Women of Early Am
Instructors
Michaela Kleber
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 4-410: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
Whether stigmatized as "witches" or heralded as "good wives," women were central to the events of early American history, from first encounters to the U.S. Revolution. Through the lens of women of African, European, and Native descent, this course focuses on their experiences, including well-known women like Tituba and Malintzen as well as lesser-known women like Martha Ballard and Marie Rouensa. What makes women's experience distinct from people of other genders in early America? How did the early American context change women's lives? In the course of reading, discussion, and writing, this course also examines how the category of "woman" was historically constructed, meant something different in different cultures, and what the meeting of these cultures in North America did to challenge and reconstruct that category. This course considers how these women's various circumstances shaped their lives, as well as how these diverse women shaped early America.
Learning Objectives
- Understand how women shaped and were shaped by events in early American history and become familiar with the many voices that have shaped that history
- Develop the skills to read and analyze primary and secondary sources through both writing and speaking
- Engage in reasoned and respectful discussion and construct thoughtful, evidence-based arguments from course readings and conversations.
- Consider how archives simultaneously shape and restrict what historians know about the past, as well as how we can ethically and accurately grapple with the limits of our own knowledge.
Evaluation Method
essays, participation
Class Attributes
WCAS Writing Seminar