History (HIST) 632

Introduction

HIST 632: Gender, Race, Racism, and the History of Classical Scholarship addresses the assumptions and biases that have underpinned classical scholarship in modern history. Since the main seats of classical scholarship for the last several hundred years have been Germany and Britain, it is not surprising that there has been a strong Eurocentric element in how modern scholars have approached the ancient past. Given the traditional male dominance in the educational system of these nations, it is also not surprising that scholarship has taken an androcentric position.

The past has long been looked to as a justification for practices of the present, and certainly the white, male, European assumptions of scholars coloured their views of the past and helped, in turn, to reinforce the assumptions they expected to find validated therein. In short, scholars sought evidence for a Eurocentric, male-centred antiquity because they lived in a Eurocentric male-centred present. They often found what they sought at least in part owing to their unconscious and perhaps conscious attitudes towards the evidence the ancient past presented.

This course is designed to explore these issues and to examine the ancient evidence, or lack thereof, that has traditionally been cited in support of these assumptions about ancient society.

This course will fulfill a valuable function in examining issues of race, gender, sexuality, and class in the ancient world, in the classical scholarship undertaken by Europeans in the modern era, and the long-term impact of both on Western society in terms of history, popular culture, and the development of other scholarly disciplines. The very wide-ranging ramifications of the mindsets explored will be amply demonstrated.

Course Structure

HIST 632: Gender, Race, Racism, and the History of Classical Scholarship is designed to begin by framing the main issues for debate in relation to the topics at hand, and then, unit by unit, to explore those issues in detail. There will be a range of critical approaches employed throughout the course, as the weekly readings will represent a variety of authors who come from differing critical schools of thought. There is no one critical theory to which the course author subscribes here: the intent is to present a range of approaches so that students may evaluate work that is being done in these areas and come to their own conclusions regarding which approaches make the most sense.

Each main topic will be introduced by an examination which sets the stage in terms of the ancient world and what is known about ancient attitudes towards an issue, and this will then be followed by an examination of modern scholarship on and interpretations of these ancient attitudes. Thus, for each area, we look at the ancient and we look at the modern, and we try to understand how they relate to one another.

Students will thus learn not only about antiquity but also about modern ideas concerning it, the forces that shape those ideas, and how antiquity in turn is itself shaped and constructed by those ideas.

The course ends with consideration of how the past and modern constructions of the past have impacted other academic disciplines and popular culture, and what their broader social and cultural ramifications may be.

Learning Objectives by Unit

Unit 1. Introduction to the Material: Students will come to understand why we study the past, what our sources of information are, and what problems we face when dealing with sources (e.g. agendas, corruption, etc.), especially in relation to gender, sexuality, and race issues. Issues of class will also be raised at this point and will continue to be raised in relation to all of the subsequent topics for debate. This unit will provide a framework for all future discussions. Students will also encounter constructions of the feminine in the ancient world and will learn about the evidence for misogyny in the ancient world and the evidence against misogyny in the ancient world.

Unit 2. Constructions of Gender in the Modern Scholarship: Students will encounter modern feminist theory and how it relates to classics. They will also learn about ancient constructions of the masculine and normative sexuality and become familiar with the main lines of thought current in the study of the roles of gender and sexuality in antiquity.

Unit 3. Constructions of Gender in the Modern Scholarship, Continued: This unit has more on the construction of the masculine and modern views on ancient attitudes towards homosexuality and heterosexuality. The main feminist debates will also be addressed, including the polarity between feminist scholarship as based on texts written by and for males, and her story. Students will also learn about the debate amongst feminists concerning whether feminist scholars should want to be classicists, the question of who owns the past, and the relationship between race and gender studies.

Unit 4. Constructions of Race in the Ancient World: Students will learn about the evidence for racism in the ancient world and the evidence against racism in the ancient world. The main debates will be addressed, including the question of race awareness in antiquity and the question of racial and ethnic identities in ancient populations

Unit 5. Constructions of Race in Modern European Scholarship: Students will learn about the main movements in classical scholarship as they were based in Germany and Britain over the past two centuries. They will consider the racial assumptions implicit and explicit within this scholarship, and will also learn about more recent scholarly debates centering on the ancient Near East, Egypt, and Africa.

Unit 6. The Influence of Racism in Classical Scholarship and Modern History: Students will learn about the broader ramifications of the issues raised in the previous unit. They will consider the widespread effects of racism in classical scholarship as it has impacted mainstream and academic Western ideology, and the uses to which it has been put politically. The Nazi movement and the study of the ancient past will be especially emphasized.

Unit 7. Conclusion: Students will be invited to consider the influence of race and gender, sexuality, and class-based issues in classical scholarship on popular culture and other academic disciplines.

Student Evaluation

To receive credit for HIST 632, students must participate in online discussions (or their alternative), complete a discussion paper, a Midterm Paper, and a Final Paper, and achieve a final mark of at least 60%.

The Master of Arts-Integrated Studies grading system is available online at the MAIS home page. Please note that it is your responsibility to maintain your program status. Any student who receives a grade of "F" in one course, or a grade of "C" in more than one course, may be required to withdraw from the program.

The following table summarizes the evaluation activities and the credit weights associated with them.