ARTH 204(S) Women in the American Landscape
Approaching North American landscape history through the lens of gender
studies, this topically-oriented seminar will consider women both in their
domestic or indoor roles as workers and family members and in their "outdoor"
roles in, inter alia, gardening, running businesses (often upon the death of their
husbands), teaching, and nursing. Special attention will be accorded to the
phenomenon of the pioneer woman, the second wage-earner, the professional
woman. That means we will consider the historical roles of raising food for
household consumption, farms and other enterprises run by or largely populated
by women, such as the schoolhouse, hospital, telephone switchboard, and airline
stewards, to name but a few institutions in the landscape where women have
predominated. Writers and scholars coming under scrutiny will include Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Laura Thacher Ulrich. The depiction of women by American
artists will be a continual theme:artists such as Dorothea Lange.
Format: lecture/discussion. Evaluation will be based on weekly short essays and
class participation.
No prerequisite. No enrollment limit (expected:15).