Gender in Britain

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Tutor: Professor Joanna Bourke
• Assessment: one essay of 5000-5500 words (100%)

Gender in Britain is a 10-week option exploring representations of masculinity and femininity in twentieth-century Britain. The first week is spent discussing the ways historians have used the concept of gender. This is followed by classes focusing on some of the major debates in twentieth-century history. Prostitution, feminism, war, sexuality, domesticity are used to illuminate wider issues of politics and power, and the way this has changed over time.

Although most of our texts will be written (unpublished diaries and letters, in addition to published autobiographies and novels), we will also look at representation of gender in a selected number of (war) films.